Operation: Flying Colors
by Skyclaw
Summary: Everyone in District 13 trains for a war that might or might not happen. In the blur of boring routine, four friends gets whisked away into an adventure that will end a war. Or spread the flames of destruction. OCs, alternate ending to Mockingjay.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary:**

**In a world of grey, some people would do anything to find some more color. When a girl meets a mysterious man dressed in black, she is sent on a crazy adventure. Traveling with an unlikely group of kids, the soon find out that their journey is anything but candy-colored. Will they survive? Or will they fall right back into District 13's hands?**

* * *

I wake up staring at the gray ceiling. Every morning it never fails to dampen my spirits after a nice dream.

Disgusted, I turn on to my side and face my brother. He's never a peaceful sleeper. I see him in an awkward position with the thin gray blanket on the floor. He is drooling.

The only vibrant colors in this room are my brother's and my hair. A fiery red color.

I stay on my side until my alarm clock rings. Its annoying sound startles my brother awake and sends me on my feet. The alarm clock is strategically built in the wall in the other side of the room so you have to get up to turn the blasted thing off.

As soon as my feet touches the ground, I shudder at the ice cold floor. I hate this place. Putting on some slippers, I punch the clock off.

District 13 is a high-tech underground city that houses thousands of families that never gets hungry. My brother and I are one of the thousand families living here. We live disciplined lives. Get up at seven. Take a shower and get the schedule printed on our forearms. Learn, eat, play, go to the bathroom and kill the day. Bed at nine. The cycle restarts.

It's a dreadful life. Boring is an understatement.

I tickle my brother to stop him from drowsing again now that the alarm clock is turned off. I target his neck, armpits and sides. I know all his weak spots and in the morning, he's too weak to resist.

"Hey, stop. Stop! Gwarsh, will ya stop! This is sooo unfair! Hey!" my brother yells, trying to kick my hands.

Marlin is a nice kid. Well, most adults call him impulsive, rude and immature. I call him vigilant, brave and curious. It doesn't hurt to look at the good side of people, even people like Marlin.

Marlin's green eyes flash with protest and laughter. I finally stop, leaving him breathless and clutching his sides.

Marlin's nine. A good, strong nine-year-old. He may be called handsome by his classmates, only they're too young to understand these things.

We get ready for the day. Put on the gray uniforms, strap on our shoes and hold out our arms out to the printing machine. Marlin calls it the 'letter spewer'.

We walk out into the hallway and I see Marlin's friend, Flyer, across the hall in another dormitory. Flyer gives Marlin a huge smile and skips to us.

"Hi, Marlin! What's your first subject?" she asks.

Marlin squints at his arm. "Um... history. You?"

"Aw. I got maths. Well, see you in lunch," she says, running to her classroom with her curly brown hair bouncing behind her.

As soon as Flyer was gone, Marlin succumbs to his usual morning silence. It's my duty to escort him everyday to class. I don't know why he wants me to. He seems old enough. Flyer goes to her class by herself, without anyone.

I stuff my hands into my pockets and I feel my right hand brush against a metallic object. I take it out and examine it. Of course, there's nothing to examine. I look at it everyday. Its a silver coin. Engraved in it is my name in neat print. Rooba.

My brother also has another one of these coins with his name engraved in it.

Before I know it, we arrived at his door. Once I drop him off, I finally look at my schedule.

Weapons training.

Not my best subject but the schedule insists. I pocket the coin and start running because it is almost eight and Captain Smilodon is quite scary once she starts screaming at you. No, scratch that. When she stops screaming and starts roaring. There's a distinct difference. Her spittle flies and lands on your face and you end up thinking, _when's my shower_?

My bag shakes and makes noises thanks to the numerous key chains I had created out of metal parts I found laying around in the blacksmiths' rooms. I barely make it in time to the Weapons Class. Smilodon's teaching us close combat today. I hope I don't end up with Trey, who would probably bludgeon me to death with a club.

I meet Zee in the armor room. We have to grab a helmet and some boots every start of the class. Standard protocol.

Zee's my friend. She's really cool. She's funny and really sarcastic. I like her. She was the first person I met when I first arrived in District 13. I was eleven and Marlin was five. Still a little tyke.

You see, we didn't originally live in District 13. We used to live in 6, where they make medicines for the Capitol.

My mom is a very important person today. In District 6, she used to be a wash lady. My dad worked as a gardner, gathering important herbs and roots for use in labs. We were poor and lived in a one room house, like everyone else. We never saw Dad. He's always in the greenhouse early in the morning. You don't get a choice, actually. Don't come and they'll beat you up, come and they'll try their hardest to find a reason to beat you up.

By 'they' I mean the Peacekeepers. Dad usually takes the second option.

Sometimes Marlin and I tagged along with him on Saturday. He taught us different kinds of plants, their names, their uses and how they taste like. He always brings home special treats every end of the week. Some berries. Fresh milk from his friend's goat. Fabric.

My mom used to go to Peacekeepers' homes and do the laundry, a hard thing to imagine now, with her fancy job. Even though my dad was the main supporter in our family, Mom rules the household like a dictator. Her leadership skills helped us survive each winter when most of Dad's plants has wilted. Like a dictator, though, she was also strict. She looked so unlike Marlin, Dad and I. She was the only person in our family with straight dark hair and dark eyes. Dad had green eyes and red hair, which made him look so happy and lively, unlike Mom. They were polar opposites. I don't know how they got married.

Most kids my age have to work to get enough money. Marlin and I were included. There's a factory in the edge of District 6, where they bottle the medicine and ship them to the Capitol. It's not a friendly place. No one is allowed to talk and all you can hear is the whir of machines for two hours. I worked here everyday after school.

Just when I couldn't bear the depressing lifestyle anymore, things took a turn for the worse. It had been a rainy day and I was sitting in the floor with Marlin. We were playing with ribbons that Dad gave us. I was ten.

I had heard someone bang on the door. My dad had crossed the room with only several strides and opened it, revealing a soaked man wearing a white uniform. He was holding something black in his hands. Apparently, my dad knew him. From the look of his face, I had gathered that it was bad news.

"Rooba. I'm going out with a friend," he said, hesitating at the word 'friend'. "I might be gone for a while, take care of Marlin."

With that, he grabbed his worn coat and left. I thought, Marlin can take care of himself.

My mom was sleeping so I snuck out of the house and followed Dad and the man. It was night time so it would be easy for me to hide, except for my red hair. Stupidly, I had not brought my jacket with me and I was soaked to the bone already.

We kept walking until the man stopped my dad in the edge of the district. Right where the electrified fence was.

The two men started talking in whispers. Gradually, they began to shout at each other. I heard what they were saying but didn't understand it. Years later, I did. It was a silly arguement about money and debts. It was not worth the consequence.

I was hiding behind a house when it happened. The arguement turned so fierce that the white uniformed man pulled out the black object. A gun.

I screamed just as thunder rolled.

The lightning had blinded me for a while, but when I was able to see again, the white uniformed man was raising his gun and bringing the butt down on my dad's head. It let out a sickening crunch as it collided with my dad's skull. He fell into the ground, unconcious. He raised his gun and shot my father.

The man checked my dad's body for any valuables to pay the debt. He didn't find any and walked away, kicking my dad's body as he went.

I wanted to run to the man and smack his nose with my tiny fists but I didn't, knowing he was armed.

I waited until he left and ran to my father's side. His face was bloody and bruised. He was still breathing but it was ragged and slowing down. The bullet wound was on his arm and kept getting washed away by the rain, so I didn't know the full severity of it.

"Dad. Dad. Dad? Dad! DAD!" He wasn't replying. I was panicking. I ran back home, slipping several times and wake up Mom.

We had tried. Lord knows that we tried. Mom tried. Marlin tried. I tried.

The odds were not in our favor, even out of the dreaded Games. I had become a slogan for our daily lives as well as the brutal slaughters each year.

The Peacekeepers proclaimed his death to be caused by hitting his head on a rock and getting a concussion.

The lies they expect us to believe! They didn't even bother to make up an excuse for the bullet wound.

We had decided that we couldn't let them treat us like this. My mom submerged deep into a period of anger, taking out her anger on the walls, her bed and our neighbors. When she resubmerged, I suggested that we run away. I had been working on a hole in the ground. It was deep enough for even my mother to squeeze through without touching the fence that's charged with electricity 24 hours a day. I worked on it every middle of the night and covered it with leaves when it was time to go back home.

After a few months of nagging and pestering, I had got my mother to agree. We saved up money for a backpack and canned food. Then, we left just with that and the clothes in our backs. And some kitchen knives.

I learned to hunt with kitchen knives. My first kill was a squirrel. I was aiming for it's heart but hit it with the hilt, but that was enough to stun it. I was scared at first but I managed to slit it's throat.

I didn't let Marlin play with my knives. He was trying to teach himself how to fish. He could make a fish hook and by the first month, he could catch a small snapper.

We had roamed around Panem for a few months, departing but not arriving. We were nomads. We stuck to the rivers and for a holiday, we spied around other districts and saw how they operate. My favorite was District 11, where there are beautiful vinyards. I had created a mental map of all the Districts. It surrounds the Capitol. Sometimes, we see a little kid and offer him fresh game for some new clothes. We slept on top of trees, usually fearful that Peacekeepers would find us.

My mother had adopted a mask for a face. I couldn't read her face. It was annoying. If I failed to bring game home, you don't know if she's mad.

We wandered around for several months, perfectly happy. Or as happy as we can without my dad. Then, one day Marlin asked me, "Can we go to District 13?"

I stared at him. "It doesn't exist anymore, Marlin. You saw those TV programs."

"But Gwen Dalson told me that it still exists underground. I want to go to District 13!" he repeated.

"No. Those are just myths. Myths don't exist."

Marlin started bawling. He was just so darn cute!

"Fine, fine, fine. We'll see the ruins, okay?"

"Yay!"

I asked my mom about visiting District 13. She just nodded. But her eyes shone with a new kind of feeling. Fear? Happiness? Hope? It was definitely a new one.

So, for the next few weeks, we headed North, in a far corner of Panem. When we arrived, Marlin was estatic. He clambered over the destroyed electric fence.

We followed him and visited some old buildings. It was dusty after all these years. Suddenly, I heard a click of metal behind me.

"You three! Put your hands up and turn around!"

We obeyed and I saw a ridiculously big man in a soilder uniform. He was pointing a ridiculously big gun at us.

"Are you runaways?" he asked.

What should I say? Is he a Capitol soilder? If I say yes, would he shoot? What if he's offering help?

"Nnnn...yeeeah," I said. Then I did a mental face palm.

Thankfully, he lowered his gun. I said the right thing. "Come with me," he ordered.

Marlin followed him but I grabbed his arm. He looked at me with pleading eyes. I shook my head.

My mom went to the rescue. "We don't trust you."

He turned around and smiled. He must get this a lot. He said, "This is District 13. We accept all kinds of runaways, refugees from the Capitol. It's the only safehouse in the entire Panem."

From then on, we lived like District 13, learning about military tactics, shooting and rebel history. We were happy for the first few days, but then it started becoming a rountine. Endless and boring. Day after day. Again and again. For all eternity.

Someone's elbowing me in the gut. It's Zee.

"Rooba. Dude. Smell's looking at you," she says.

I look around until my eyes land on Smilodon. She's eyeing me. I haven't put on my uniform yet. I'm just standing here, outside the girls' bathroom staring into space. I dash inside and practically rip out my normal grey shirt and put on my bulky camo suit. I line up with the other kids next to Zee. Zee adjusts her glasses and pins her bangs up with a clip. Her grey eyes remains trained down at her shoes.

Smilodon strolls in front of the straight line and glowers over everyone except Trey.

"As you all know, we will be entering a new unit, close combat. We will focus on clubs, maces, fistfighting and swords."

I inwardly groan. For a whole month, I wouldn't be throwing any kitchen knives. Zee wouldn't be stabbing anyone's guts with her wicked sharp daggers.

Smilodon continues, "I will put you in random pairs and assess your knowledge in fist fighting and wrestling."

She rattles off names. Zee is paired up with Mark. I wince in sympathy for her. Mark is an agile kid that knows how to use every single weapon in District 13. His small size has a large amount of strength. If only Zee had her daggers.

I am paired up with Horus. He's a dark-skinned boy, about the same height as me. I've seen him on the archery field. He's not a bad shot. I've never seen him fist fight though. I admit, I still have butterflies in my stomach.

All the partners spread out around the gym and we put on our helmets. I raise my fists in what I call a defensive stance.

"Good luck," I say even though I am the one who needs it.

He smiles before the face guard swallows up his face. "You too."

I am vaguely aware that Smilodon's blowing on her whistle. I hear punches being thrown and I decide it's time to start.

I throw a punch aimed at Horus's helmet. Our suits were thin but designed so we could feel someone punch us but don't feel the hurt. District 13 likes to stay on top of technology. Horus ducks and grabs my flying arm. He turns it behind my back. He twists my arm but only hard enough to pin it behind my back.

"Come on, Rooba! There are no room for sissies in my class!" Smilodon shouts.

I kick Horus in his shin hard and he let me go. I raise up my guard. This time, he attacks me. He tackles me and we wrestle in the ground. I kick and thrash, trying to get to my feet. Horus is able to keep me in the ground and knocks me off my feet every time I try to stand. Finally, I find myself with my face on the ground.

"Horus, you great lump! Get off me! You win!" I shout.

I feel the weight in my back cease and I roll to my back gasping air.

"You're... good," I say.

Horus opens his helmet and I see his red sweaty face. He's grinning.

"Took a lot of effort though. There's a huge bruise on my shin."

I can tell he's lying.

I look around the room and see Zee stuck in a headlock. Most of the battles are over.

Smilodon is looking at me like I just sprouted wings.

Well.

She can just fail me for all I care.

It's not like there's a war going on.

Right?

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Hey. How was that? This is a multi-chapter story. I'm trying to copy Suzanne Collin's writing style, but I might've changed tenses in some parts. I combed through the story several times and each time, I get several mistakes. Sigh. Zee belongs to my friend. Rooba and Marlin belongs to me. Collins owns the universe. See you.**


	2. Mercury

Later that day, Zee and I are walking home. I get my coin out, toss it in the air and catch it. I do this a couple of times. Zee is rubbing her neck, where Mark had almost yanked her head off from her body.

"You okay?" I ask.

"Yeah. Maybe some spinal injury but I'll live. Probably," she says.

I laugh. Suddenly, my watch beeps. Zee groans. Only important people get expensive watches like mine. Not a lot of fifteen-year-olds get to wear it, much less nine-year-olds. Marlin and I get to wear it. That doesn't mean I like it. It's like a fungus growing on my arm and I can't get rid of it.

"Sorry, Zee. Gotta go. She's calling," I say.

"Fine. Good luck, Roob."

I sprint to the North-Eastern Wing. She doesn't like tardiness. The result of this is my bumping to random people.

Just one more turn and I'll be in her office. I veer sharply and slam into a man.

He's big and is also in a hurry. I'm thrown back and the papers he was carrying are scattered.

"Sorry mister," I say.

He grunts in reply. I take a closer look at him. He's wearing rather dark clothes. A few strands of white hair poke out behind the wide hat pulled down to his face. He wears dark glasses. I'm thinking that he's too old to dress up as a ninja. He quickly grabs the papers and walks away without another word.

I haul myself up to my feet and see that he left one piece of paper. Out of curiosity, I pick it up and read it. It has only a single paragraph on it. From what I can see, it is a continuation of a letter.

'_as propsed by the victor, Haymitch Abernathy of District 12. Due to his undercover task, he is unable to address to the Council. Mr. Abernathy wishes to gain permission, as he is in a tight schedule._

_-One (1) hovercraft._

_-One (1) squadron.'_

That's it. In the bottom is Coin's signature. I heard about Haymitch Abernathy. He lives in District 12. Won the Games by complete chance, in my opinion. The old drunk's mentoring Katniss Everdeen. I heard that she's going back to the arena for the Quarter Quell. It's about a month and a half until it starts and for Battle Tactics, we're going to watch it and probably do an essay about it. Oh, the sheer boredom.

I stuff the paper in my bag and take a step towards the office when I stop dead, a sudden realization blossoming in my mind. How did Haymitch Abernathy contact Coin? He was supposed to testify in front of the Council? I thought no one knew about District 13, and that the people who fled here arrived either completely by chance or is smart enough to figure it out from all the District 13 bombing broadcasts. And what does he need a squadron and a hovercraft for? District 13 is highly advanced with bombs and military whatnot. What is going on in there?

I hear my watch beep its annoying beep. I realize that I have been standing there for a while, ponderig the vague fragment of a letter. I hurry down the hall until I come across an elevator. It's a fancy one but it doesn't open if you don't have a watch like mine. I thrust my arm on the watch scanner and the red light on the doors turns green. It opens and I march in. The elevator is tiny and really only built for one person. The walls are mirrors, so I can see a thousand dirty Roobas staring back at me. I attempted to straighten myself up. Button up my shirt until the top, wipe a smudge of ink or something from my cheek and attempt to hide a brute of a bruise on my wrist from Weapons Class.

The elevator door finally opens and I step in to a huge room. It is big but not grand, like a bigger version of a family compartment. Same grey ceilings, same grey walls, just a bigger space. There's a simple metallic- also grey- desk, a couple of file cabinets behind the desk and two chairs. One giant one turned away from me behind the desk and one tiny one facing the desk. The desk is clean, not a speck of dust or any papers.

I tiptoe into the small chair and attempt to make myself comfortable in the cold room. A clock is ticking and the room is so silent, each heartbeat sounded like an earthquake. The clock ticks on and I stare at the back of the big bloodred chair. The tension is smothering me. I give a small cough and the chair turns slightly. I can see a woman's grey hair and the tip of her nose.

"Hello Rooba," the woman says. Although she is whispering, I feel deafened.

"Hi Coin," I say.

Coin turns around completely and fix me with those beady predator eyes. It took all my willpower and some more to not flinch.

"I told you to call me Mum, not Coin," she says patiently. "We're a family and we should respect each other."

Her calmness unnerves me. I nod my head. You shouldn't defy the head of am advanced empire.

"Thank you," she says, fixing me with a toothy smile. "Where's your brother?"

"He must have figured out a way to destroy a classroom with Flyer," I joke. Immediately, I bite the inside of my mouth in embarrassment. I wish I could take that back but it's too late. It's impossible to not hear anything in the silence.

Coin didn't say anything. I see that she was holding a couple of pictures in her hands, shuffling through theme like a pack of cards, occasionally stopping at one and staring at it. She sees me looking at it and swivels her chair around again so that I'm talking to the back of the chair.

"You shouldn't stare at people, Rooba. I thought I taught you better," she scolds.

"Sorry," I mumble.

We sit in silence for a while, waiting for something- anything- to happen. I try to fix my gaze on anything in the room. There was nothing worth looking at except my colorful bag. I stare at it, reaching one of my hands down and fiddling with the many key-chains. When I run, it makes a loud sound, but I don't mind. It makes me feel calm somehow.

Then, the elevator beeps and Marlin comes in, red-faced. I can tell that he had been running fast, up to no good. I shuffle a little to the right and Marlin sits down on the tiny chair beside me. It's a tight fit. We are basically sitting on top of each other. I pinched Marlin on his arm and gave him a suspicious look. Marlin isn't into sports. The only time he would be running is if he was forced to or there was a worthy treat to it. He gave me a grin, which I interpret as a thief glad to have escaped from justice.

I'll deal with him later.

Right now, we have a 'meeting' to face. A really awkward one with many silences in this tiny chair.

"My, my, Chamberlain. You're awfully late," Coin says.

I feel Marlin tense up. He hates his name. Marlin's real name is actually Chamberlain Marlin Coin. He prefers Marlin because what kind of mother would name their sons after toilet? Coin said that Chamberlain was an important military figure way before the Dark Days. My name's just plain Rooba. It means fox in some strange language. She thinks males are the one who should be pampered, not that I'm complaining. I just want a little attention, but not enough attention to get named after a toilet. I pity Chamberla- Marlin.

"Sorry, Mum," he mumbles. Even the mighty Marlin trembles at Coin.

"Yes," she says. "Rooba, darling. I've heard that you're failing Weapons Class. And do tell why you have that ungodly bruise on your wrist."

It's my time to tense up. How did she know about the bruise? Maybe she had upgraded her room. Coin's a sucker for new technology.

"Yes. Yes I am," I say quietly. "Today, I got paired up with Horus. Fistfighting, I mean."

"Hm. I expect you to do better. If I get a report again from Captain Smilodon, expect a session in the Alcatraz."

I shiver. Alcatraz is like a prison, except worse. Everyone from infants to elders stand a chance to get locked up there for a week. It's dark, damp and rats infest it. Coin must really think that a war's coming up if she wants me to go to Alcatraz if I fail Weapons. I instantly think of the note. Maybe, my predictions were right after all. Or maybe I'm just being paranoid. Who would threaten District 13, anyway? No one knows we exsist.

Right?

"Would you like to tell me what you picked up from the ground in the hallway?" she asks.

How did she know about the note? Something inside of me tells me that I should lie. I like the voice. I act by impulse. I shake my head and try to put on a mask of innocence.

"I didn't pick anything up, Mum," I say.

"Don't lie to your mother. You can't rule the fourth world without knowing what's happening in front of your nose. Hand it over."

I sigh in defeat and bend down to zip my bag open. She calls District 13 the fourth world because it's the only place where you're safe from the Capital. I take out the crumpled paper and gently lay it on Coin's desk. Her spidery fingers quickly snatch it and I hear her uncrumpling it.

"Ah, my papers. I'm glad you didn't get the whole thing," she says.

The whole thing? Marlin is looking at our exchange, green-eyes wide open.

We sit in silence for a few minutes, Coin is humming a cheerful tune, which just added to the whole awkwardness of the situation. Coin asks 'Chamberlain' about school and his friends. Then, she lets us go.

Marlin and I trip over ourselves trying to get out. We squish into the small elevator and breath a sigh of relief. Coin's weird that way. She creeps us out just because she wants to. Or maybe we're just a small part of a bigger plan.

I remember Marlin's guilty look back in the office.

"What did you do?" I ask.

"What? If I show up panting, that doesn't mean I did something bad," he says unconvincingly.

I give him a hard stare.

"Fine. Me and Flyer..."

"Flyer and I," I correct him.

"We raided the kitchen," he says keeping his voice low. He knows that Coin's got cameras all over the place.

"You what?" I screamed-whispered. The door beeps and let us out. Marlin tries to run but I coil my fingers around his arm and drag him to the nearest custodian closet. I bang the door shut.

"What- exactly- were you doing in the kitchen?" I ask again.

"W-we were h-hungry and the cooks w-weren't looking," he whimpers.

"And you decided that being hungry was a valid reason to steal, Chamberlain?" I say angrily.

"That and Coin's our mom," he says with a huff, annoyed that I called him that.

My anger seeps away and is replaced by exaperation and a bit of sadness. I decide that it was a good time to teach him a life lesson.

"You can't go around telling people what to do whenever you want just because our mother is Coin," I say.

"Just because you hate Coin doesn't mean I should."

Boy, you seriously need acting lessons.

"I know you hate her."

"Yeah, I do," he says. "But, technically, she's still our mother and I have decided to take advantage of her title."

"No, Chamberlain."

"Stop calling me that!"

"If you stop stealing from the kitchen, Cham-"

"Fine!"

"Now that's better, _Marlin_. How much did you take?"

"A few apples each. Flyer took some bananas too."

I sigh. Those were expensive items. I should also teach Marlin maths. I tousle his hair in affection.

"Okay. I'm going to track Flyer down. Wanna come?"

"Sure!"

We head down the hallway together. Several times, I catch a movement in the corner of my eyes. Something black. When I try to get a closer look at it, it disappears. I feel someone watching me and I shudder. I grip Marlin's hand tighter and walk slightly faster.

We reach Flyer's compartment and from the sounds coming out from her room, I guess that she's eating her apples. I knock the door and the girl opened the door.

"Oh. Hi Marlin, Rooba. Wanna banana?" she asks cheerily.

"Um, no. I'm here to take the things that you stole. You know, the ones from the kitchen?" I ask.

Flyer shrieks and tries to slam the door. I had my foot wedged between the door and the wall.

"Marlin! You told her!" she screams playfully.

"Um, no I didn't. She found out."

"That doesn't matter! She's here to take our loot! Come and protect it with me!" she screams, putting on a tough voice.

I step into the compartment and see Flyer underneath a bed. I make an educated guess and pinpoint the location of the missing fruits under the same bed.

"Seriously, Flyer. She'll cause me serious brain damage if you don't give the groceries to her," Marlin says.

"Really? You're no fun, anymore," she groans. Her pink lips form a pout.

I sigh for the second time that day. I can't work very well with kids. I might accidentally step on them. I crouch and pull a brown bag that consists of bananas.

"No!" Flyer shouts as she lunges forward and grabs my ankle.

I stumble, but the combat boots I am still wearing is giving me easy purchase on the ground. I try to shake Flyer off but she wouldn't budge. She was squealing in delight. Marlin, seeing his friend howl happily, latches himself to my other leg.

The traitor.

Now I've got two human weights and I can barely move. I consider wacking them upside their heads when Zee arrived in the scene.

"Hiya Roob," she glances down and see the two kids on my legs. "You seem busy. I'll come back another time." She leaves with a smile.

"I thought you were my friend!" I shout.

Zee stuck her head on the door frame. "Correction. Best friend."

She reenters and grabs Flyer by her waist. Flyer squirms on Zee's grip and tries to bite her fingers playfully. Zee puts Flyer in a fireman's carry.

"Cut it out, you little shrimp," she says, laughing.

Marlin is still holding on to my leg. I walk, dragging him as I do. It takes a long time but I get there in the end. I knock on the door and a rather tall cook was standing over me.

"Yah?" he says. "I don't have time for little pests. Make it quick, I have got a six thousand people to feed."

Marlin and Flyer went pale and ran out of the cook's sight. I hand the cook the fruits that they stole.

"Here. I'm sorry for my brother and his friend. They stole some stuff from your kitchen," I say.

The cook makes a grab for the bag and peered inside. He narrows his eyes at me.

"This year's harvest just came. I have got no time for shenanigans. Please leash your brother." His eyes travels down and lands on my watch. "I know you. You're Rooba Coin. No one else wears a communicuff, except for generals and important people. If I were you, I'd stay out of my way." He slams the door shut.

I'm stunned. No one has ever talked to me like that. Quite the opposite, actually. When they see my communicuff, they stutter and attempts to wash me with praise.

I shake my head. I'm just being arrogant. Of course some people will hate me. I'm the daughter of the richest woman in District 13. What's not to hate?

Zee reappears. "Roob, we've got a slight problem."

I turn around and see that she's empty-handed hair messier than ever. "Where's the kids?"

"Dunno. Probably went home or something."

"Eh. Just leave them. Probably went to harass some poor worker."

"Fun."

I laugh and we head back to our compartments. I felt someone touch my shoulder. I whirl around and see the edge of a black shirt disappearing behind a corner.

"Zee. Go ahead. I've got to do something first."

"What?"

"I left my homework in Smell's class."

"Ouch. Want me to come? You know, for moral support?"

"No thanks."

"If you say so."

She shrugged and whistled as she walked away. I wait until she's out of sight and dashed behind the corner. I see no one. It's just a normal hallway. For a moment, I consider giving up when someone grabs me by my elbow and drags me inside another custodian closet. There's an unlimited supply of them in every hall. I try to yelp in surprise but I see a gloved hand over my mouth and another on my neck. I try to pry it from me but it was steady. I try and kick my assilant but he had closed the door and left us in the dark. I bite his hand and he finally let go. I grope for the doorknob but feel two hands on my shoulder, knocking me and pinning me to a wall. I hear some buckets fall and a clicking sound, followed by a dim light illuminating the closet.

I hate closets. This is the second time this day I'm in this place. This time, I'm trapped here with a stranger. Oh joy.

The person was the same one who I ran into. Same black outfit, same strands of white hair, same old guy.

"Who are you?" I yell.

He put his finger to his mouth, signaling me to be quiet. For some strange reason, I do.

"Don't yell. They might hear," he says.

"Who? Who might hear?" I ask, getting frightened.

"I believe, your mother," he says.

"Coin?"

"Well, duh. Do you have any other mothers?" he says.

I open my mouth to reply when he takes my left arm and fiddles with my communicuff. It shut down with a beep.

"Wow. How did you do that?" I ask in awe.

"Skills. Now, we don't have much time. The answer to your first question is that I'm Mercury Aerolous."

Dramatically, he takes off his glasses, scarf and hat. I'm stunned by what I see. He's not actually old. He was wearing a wig. Underneath, I see a brown-haired boy only slightly older than me. His dull blue eyes are staring at me. His hair is brown and shaggy, as if he had never been introduced to a brush before. He has an equally wild look in his eyes, as if he spent the night out in some forest.

"Great. Hello Mercury. If that's all I must be going," I say. I try to move forward but he still has his hand on my shoulder.

"Not so fast, Coin. Do you want to know why I was snooping around your mom's office?"

He hit the right spot. I'm suddenly interested. I mean, how could you not be interested?

"Fine. What were you doing?" I ask.

"I think it's better that you sit down. I've got more than that to tell you."

He let go of me but is still wary that I would make a run for it.

As if.

I sit down on the dusty floor and Mercury did too. I'm afraid that his huge size wouldn't let him be able to sit down properly but he takes off his huge raincoat and I see that he had stuffed pillows inside of it to make him seem huge. He's actually a lean boy, if not slightly starved. He's got a runner's build.

"I was looking for this," he says. He takes out a bunch of papers from the jacket and hands them to me.

I squint at it through the dim light. At first, I don't understand it. It's mostly numbers. Then, my eyes lands on one phrase.

_The Hunger Games._

I grab the papers and begin flipping through them until I see a paragraph.

_In the third Quarter Quell, squad 926 set up spies in the Capitol and intercepted a message from President Snow's mansion regarding the third Quarter Quell. He plans to reap Victors, not children. The plan is thought to be a revenge for Katniss Everdeen (The Mockingjay) to get back in the arena because she is the only female Victor in District 12._

I gasp in shock. "When was this?"

"A few months ago, before the Quarter Quell," he says.

"Wait, I thought the Quarter Quell wasn't until next month," I ask, confused.

"Coin lied. Last week was the end of the Quarter Quell," Mercury says.

He hands me another piece of paper. It was crumpled and dirty, as if the person writing this was in a swamp. He might have been.

_Good news! We have successfully breached the Capitol. Soldier Everdeen has destroyed the arena forcefield, thanks to Haymitch Abernathy. We are currently on the way to District 13. We have recovered the Mockingjay. She is still in intensive care and we don't know how mentally stable she is, but Doctor Sage said that she will be ready for the propos in a few weeks. Sadly, we failed to recover Peeta Mellark and several other Victors. That might contribute to her unsteadiness, but the Medics are doing all they can._

I stare at it. "When was this written?"

"Yesterday. The Mockingjay is in a hovercraft making it's journey to Thirteen."

"She is?"

"Yes. She's in the main hospital unit of a campsite right now."

It takes a few minutes for me to process this. Coin's been lying? Then, I look at Mercury.

"And you're telling me this because...?"

"I wanted to gain trust from you," he says.

"Right, because I'm special. I know, I've been told. But why?" I ask.

"Because I need you to tell you something. Something I can't tell to a person who doesn't trust me."

I roll my eyes at his vagueness. "Just spill it. You've got my attention, even though I still think that you're clinically disturbed."

"Right. I'm not from District 13."

I laugh. "Could've fooled me. Most of the people here are refugees. Even Coin and my family aren't. We're from Six."

"No, I'm not from any of the Districts. I'm not even from Panem."

"Then where are you from?"

"New Brooklyn."

"Okaay. Where in the world is New Brooklyn?"

"Next to Dead York, in the North."

I laugh again. This guy's nuts. Either this guy's terrible in geography or he's just plain stupid. I consider the latter.

"So, what you're saying is that there's another country other than Panem?"

"Yes. That's what I'm saying."

I laugh so hard tears come to my eyes. I'm on the verge of rolling around the floor.

"I knew you were going to take it like that."

"Heck yeah! That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Get this into your head. Panem's the only country in the world, since the End." I take his hand and shake it. "Thanks for brightening up my day, I'm out."

I stand up and lay my hand on the door knob. I half-expected him to knock me off my feet again but he didn't move. Instead, he says something strange.

"Your mother is just like President Snow. By the time you've figured this out, something terrible will happen to your brother."

"Great, you're a ninja, a master of disguise and now a psychic, too? See you," I say, even though I was terrified. I push the door open and marched out. What would happen to Marlin? How come Mercury knows? A guy who can sneak in to Coin's room would probably know everything.

He's an idiot. Nothing will change that. Not even a threat for my brother.


	3. The Evacuation

The day after the meeting with Mercury Aerolous is a Saturday. I don't have much to do in weekends so I sleep in. Well, actually lie on the bed pretending to sleep. I hear Marlin's mattress creak and a quiet hum of the shower.

I smile. Good boy. He actually got up without me.

The shower stops and the smell of soap drifts to the room. I peek out of my blanket and see that he is already dressed in his usual grey shirts, but he grabs a gardener hat and put that on.

Where did he get that?

"Marlin, where are you going?" I ask.

He stops in surprise. "I though you were still asleep."

I throw off my covers and look straight into Marlin's eyes. "I wasn't. Where are you going?" I repeat.

"To Flyer's," he says. He wears a look of guilt.

"Really? Not another prank?"

"No, I'm pretty sure not."

"Where'd you get the hat?"

"The Greenhouse Unit."

"Borrowed or stolen?"

"I-I-I-" he stammers.

I smirk. "Stolen, then. Give it to me."

Marlin tried to protest. I stand and grab the hat. His face morphs into a pout. I smile, hoping it didn't look sympathetic. "You're dismissed."

He sticks out his tongue and left the compartment. I hide the hat under my mattress and resolve to take it to the Gardeners tommorrow. Just then, I hear erratic knocking on my door.

What now?

I drag myself to my feet and open the door. Zee burst in, practiacally screaming.

"They've bombed Twelve! ROOBA! They've friggin bombed my hometown!"

I'm knocked on to the floor and land painfully on my butt.

"Who?" I ask.

"The Capitol! Only around four hundred survived! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?"

"Um-"

"The Capitol has declared war on the Rebels! Us!" she says, not letting me talk.

I'm shocked. The rumours are true. The reasons why Coin set up more war-related classes. Kids fifteen and older go to the army. I'm fifteen.

"How do you know?" I ask.

"A horde of District Twelve survivors were just granted safe passage. Come on! A group's taking a tour! Let's go see."

I can tell she's desperate and a little dreading it. She wants to see if the people she knew made it out in time. I take off my pajamas and quickly put on my clothes. I run out and follow Zee through the winding hallways of District Thirteen.

We turn on a corner and is faced with a group of people who look exactly like Zee. They have dark hair, grey eyes and olive skin. I see Zee searching each face to see if anyone looks familiar.

They don't.

Zee chocked on a tiny sob. Zee never cries. She doesn't sniff. She doesn't whimper. She sure as heck doesn't sob.

She gets over it quickly. She puts on a smile and waves at the crowd, as though congratulating them for their escape. The District 12 refugees are unbelivably thin, their eyes wide with fear. Their clothes and faces are ripped and covered with soot. Most childern are clutching their mothers. I can see only two blonde haired people. One a kid and one her mother. They look familiar. I realize that they are the Everdeens. Holding the girl's other hand is a tall handsome boy. He looked tired and pained, his fingers scarred and bloody. I know him from the Hunger Games videos. He's Gale Hawthorne. Katniss Everdeen's cousin.

They must be on their way to one of the hospital units. I'm surprised to see a number of famous people. What if this group was all that survived?

I'd rather not think of that. Zee and I share a few words of comfort to several people and walk away to the canteen. Zee is silent. She had been brought up in District 12 as an orphan. When she was young, her brother had been caught hunting in the forest and her dad died in a mining accident. Her mom disappeared for unknown reasons, though Zee had hinted that it was maybe because she hated her. She ran away when her friend got reaped. Cora something or the other. She didn't make it. Zee's a lonely person, but a brilliant one at that. I am happy to be her friend. Her time in District 12 has been a tragic one, though I'm not sure she likes District 13. A bit like me but for other reasons.

We grab our trays and sit in our assigned table. Marlin, Flyer and her family are already there. We strike up an idle conversation about the District 12 refugees. We finish early and my stomach is still growling. We get up to put our trays away.

I see Horus standing around the trash can. He keeps shifting his weight from each foot and occasionally runs a hand through his hair. He looks agitated.

"Hey, Horus. What's up? You look a bit pale," I joke.

He turns to me and says omniously, "I met Mercury Aerolous."

My eyes widen. "What did he tell you?"

"He told me that he told me the same things he told you."

I have to ask him to repeat the sentence again. He does and Zee is looking at us with confusion written all over her face.

"Dude, what is he talking about?"

I weigh out the consequences of telling her ter truth versus lying. Lying would be very bad. Truth... what could go wrong?

"Remember when I said that I wanted to go back to class yesterday? To get my homework?" I ask.

"Yeah."

"Well, some crazy dude assaulted me. Called himself Mercury Aerolous. Told me some stuff about-"

Horus interupts me. "There he is!" He's pointing at a door which says, "Employees only". Sure enough, I see Mercury smiling at us. He had bleached his hair so it is blonde, is using green eye contacts and traded his trench coat for a cook uniform. He even found a way to somehow get a schedule printed in his arm. All these changes to his appearance and I can still tell that he is Mercury because of his toothy grin that gives him a boyish quality.

"Who are you?" Zee says.

Mercury's eyes dart around, as if he didn't want to get caught talking to us.

"Your friends know. I'm Mercury, but today, I'm officially Ferran Baxter."

"What?" I ask. "What is that supposed to mean?"

He doesn't answer but disappears into the kitchen, with a little flick of his hand. He wants us to follow him? Again? Does he think I'd fall for that trick again? I start to walk away from this ridiculous charade but Zee actually steps in the door.

"Zee, you honestly want to follow this spaz?" I say.

"Well, yeah. He looks kinda interesting, you know?"

No, I don't know. He's a guy who changes his identity every other day, sometimes dresses up like an old man and claims he comes from a far away country. He's not interesting.

Unfortunately, Horus thinks so too and steps into the kitchen. I give in and follow them. At least something interesting and worth laughing at will come.

'Ferran Baxter' had seated himself in a kitchen counter. I have only had a glimpse of the kitchen but when I am actually in it, I see that there's a labyrinth of stoves and ovens and countless of cooks. This is where all the food in District 13 is made. I hope the angry cook yesterday isn't here. It would be bad. Very bad.

"Hey. What's up, Miss?" Mercury says to Zee. "I haven't introduced myself properly. I am Mercury Aerolous and I come from New Brooklyn."

Wow. That was straightforward.

I look at Zee to see her expression. She was calm.

"Yeah, and I'm the president of District 13."

Okay she isn't.

"Hey Horse," Mercury says to Horus.

"It's Horus."

"Of course. Thought about what I said, Horse?" Mercury says with a grin.

Horus nods and Mercury's eyes lit up. "And?"

Horus opens his mouth to say something but I interrupt. "Okay, Aerolous. I'm sick of all this."

"Of all what?" He sure knows how to get into people's skin.

"Of all this," I wave my arms wildly, searching for the right words. "Secresy, hiding and nonsense."

"What nonsense? All I say is true," Mercury says. "Do I look like a liar?"

"Well, you dress up as different people everyday and change your identity all the time. Frankly, yes. You do look like a liar."

Mercury just laughs, which gives me another reason for wishing to be able to slit his throat.

"I have reasons for picking you four. Zee Kavish, Rooba Coin, Marlin Coin and Horse," Mercury says. Horus looks feral but doesn't interrupt. "You're all unhappy. Rooba, your brother and you have a terrible mother. Horse, I know your story. I also know your future." Horus flinches and I am instantly curious. I open my mouth to try and pry him but decide against it. "Zee. I'm sorry about your family." He looks genuinely sad for her. Zee drops her gaze.

"I'm sorry, what?" Horus says. "Pick us for what?"

"For the Evacuation," Mercury says, as though it cleared everything up..

"And what, exactly, is the Evacuation?" Horus asks.

"It's a kind of initiation New Brooklyners can take part in when they reach the age of sixteen. They get sent to District 13 and, you know, evacuate people. At least four of them to be exact. Four people that can be easily convinced that New Brooklyn is real. So naturally, I chose you guys."

I look at the others to see if they were laughing but Zee actually has a thoughtful expression and Horus has the exact same look.

"What's New Brooklyn like?" Zee asks.

Mercury smiles, happy to have found a break-through. "Well, there's nothing special about it, only that the people have freedom. The Evacuation? Totally optional. Everyone can come and go as they please. So, technically, it's not bloody Panem."

Horus snickers, but instead of a mocking tone, he actually sounds wistful. "Sound nice."

"Oh, it is! Ancient people used to build tall buildings and huge bridges, back when they haven't ran out of gas and haven't found Tarmo. Dead York, right beside New Brooklyn is flooded from the ancient disasters, but you can still see the billions of buildings coming out of the water. Oh and get this. There's sunlight." He chuckles at his own joke.

I must admit, that sounds pretty neat. Floating buildings and bridges? Cool. We are all silent for a while.

"So, why did you sign up for the Evacuation?" Zee asks.

Mercury frowns. "That's a really good question." He shrugs. "Maybe I just want an adventure? I don't know what's going on in this brain of mine." He laughs nervously.

Suddenly, Marlin comes in hollering, "Hey, Roo! Can I..." He stops when he catches a glimpse of Mercury. "Hey! Who's that?"

Way to go, Chamberlain. He's probably going to start and corrupt Marlin brain with endless fantasies. I don't want him to get sucked into this horribly appealing fantasy. The kid's easily swayed. He'll probably pack his bags the first time Mercury opens his mouth.

"He's..." I trail off. I wasn't sure what to call him. Friend? Enemy? Stalker?

"I can introduce myself," Mercury says. "I'm Mercury Aerolous, loyal citizen of New Brooklyn and Evacuator."

There he goes again. My predictions comes true as Marlin says, "Sweet. Where is it?"

"Up North, next to Dead York, edge of the Atlantic-"

"Rubbish. Absolute rubbish," I walk away and Marlin, bless him, follows me.

We go back to our compartment in time for _Reflection_.

Usually we have nothing to talk about. I mean, come on, one specific hour for socializing? Huh. Overly militaristic people.

Today was different. Marlin starts prattling away about Mercury. How did I find him? Who was he? Have I been to New Brooklyn? Good grief, he's like a radio with an invisible pause button.

"Look, Marlin. I have absolutely no idea who the guy is. He just locked me into a closet and tried to tell me about New Brooklyn." I make quotations over the words 'New Brooklyn.'

"Alright," he says a bit suspiciously.

We talk a bit about our day which isn't very interesting and by the time Reflection is over, it is bedtime. I crawl into the bed and stare to the wall, wondering what would happen if I said yes to Mercury.

That night I dreamed of a place where buildings came about of the sea.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Short, I know. I'll make it up.**

**There shall be romance! At this early stage, you shouldn't be able to figure out which people I'm going to make fall in love with each other. My friend made me do it, so I might not be Stephanie Meyer, but I'm trying my hand in this.**

**Next, why have you people not reviewed my last chapter? Goodness, not a single review! Am I losing my touch? Could the great Skyclaw lose her touch? No! Please prevent this by reviewing.**


	4. The Vents

**Author's Note: **

**Another late wait. Apologies, I went to camp a few days ago.**

* * *

For the next few days, I did not see Mercury. It is fine with me. Nothing happens this week until another visit to Coin where something goes horribly wrong.

Once again, Marlin and I am squished in the chair in Coin's office again. Today, Coin goes straight into buisness, looking straight in the eyes of Marlin. Her bony fingers are tied around each other and she speaks to us in a manner that one would use in fragile peace negotiations with terrorists.

"Chamberlain, I have been informed that you dropped a smoke bomb today in class. Is this true?"

A smoke bomb? I sniff Marlin's hair. It smells like smoke. Marlin squirms nervously in his chair.

"Umm... Yes?" he says.

What?

Coin shows no signs of agitation or frustration. A complete mask. Then she launches into a speech.

"We are in the verge of war, Chamberlain. You listen too, Rooba," Coin starts, as if lecturing a four-year-old. "Wars are expensive and it won't work if we have uncooperative citizens. They get in the way of the war effort. Citizens must abide by the rules and nothing else is tolerated. Everyone, no matter age nor status, must take the consequences they deserve. Chamberlain, I am sentencing you to level one Alcatraz for a week."

What? Alcatraz? She wouldn't, would she?

"There are guards in the elevator. They will escort you to the Crime Department."

"B-b-but you can't!" Marlin sputters.

"Yes I can."

Well, she has a point. Level one Alcatraz? How bad could it really be? I've heard rumours but surely it wouldn't involve poisonous snakes or anything of that sort, right?

Marlin sits back down and buries his head in his hands. I hear some mutters from him. He's probably cursing underneath his breath. How he came to know some particularly colorful words, I don't know. I pat him in the back, unsure of what else to do. Coin gives him a minute and then says, "Why are you still here? Go on, punctuality is important."

We rise to our feet but Coin stops me. "Not you Rooba. You stay."

I sit back down. The chair seems empty and huge now that Marlin's gone. I watch him as he enters the elevator and closes on his terrified face. The next time I'll be seening him is a week from now. Hopefully mentally intact.

Coin shuffles some papers until she found one she was looking for.

"Ah, yes. This week's _Juvenile Detention List_. Usually, these things are below my attention but this is a special circumstance. You see, the name at the top of the list is Horus Carter. I believe, your classmate."

My stomach churns uncomfortably. Stupid males, I think, though I feel a twinge of guilt as I say this. What's Horus up to now? I've got Marlin to think about.

"What about Horus?" I ask through a lump in my throat.

"Oh, nothing much. He just broke in the main armoury. He almost got killed," Coin says.

Wow. I am buffeted with feelings of wonder and awe.

Did Coin just utter something sarcastic?

Oh, and some part of me deep down is wondering about Horus's fate.

"Is he in Alcatraz?"

"Yes. Technically, if he stole anything, he'd get a level six, but adding to the fact that he is, indeed, just a boy and he didn't get to steal anything, we have decided to put him in a level three, unfortunately." She says this in a relaxed mood, as if discussing our days.

Like a real mother.

Psh. I don't need any mothers. Just like Zee. We can survive.

And as far as I can see, there's no trace of love in Coin's expression. It's like she decided one day that she's going to give up motherhood, even though she still had a girl and a baby boy to raise.

Man, if Marlin hears my thoughts, he's going to go outright ballistic that I called him a baby boy.

"Now, Rooba. Mr. Carter is under interrogation," Coin continues. "Our phycological experts are in the job but the boy is a tough nut to crack. He's not telling how or why he broke in the armoury. My reports state that he's not even talking. Not even with truth serum. That takes a lot of will power."

I nod slowly. Horus has always been a peculiar kid but he's not, like, mentally disturbed or anything. He doesn't deserve to be injected with what I picture as literes of strange drugs.

"I see. What do you need me for?" I ask.

"Some questions regarding Mr. Carter and his unidentified accomplice. He was seen in the scene of the crime but escaped our forces. Blonde hair, had the look of a refugee about him. Foreign, that's the word. No one had a clear look of him. Do you know who he is?"

My heart starts hammering and my palms is slick with sweat. That is obvioulsy Mercury. Another choice between truth or lies. Lying seems like the better option now.

"No, never heard of him before," I say, hoping my voice sounds steady.

Coin smiles, showing her pearly whites. She leans forward. "You're lying."

I shoot to my feet in panic. I'm not a very good liar, am I? I take a step to the elevator but suddenly, my feet won't obey my commands. I trip and end up sprawled in the floor face-down. I crane my head around to look at my shoes and see that my legs has turned a metallic silver, the same color as the floor. I can't move it at all, as if it has actually turned into a metal. It felt cold and numb. I am petrified. Literally.

I look at Coin and see that she is infuriatingly still calmly looking at me. "Using thiopental and truth serum on my daughter would be inhumane. Count yourself lucky that you're just under house arrest, not even in Alcatraz." She gives a tiny huff of a laugh. "Once you're ready to tell me who the boy is, I might consider letting you out. When you're ready-" She drops something in the floor next to me. It lands with an almost inaudible _ping_. It's a metal bracelet with a sky blue button as a sort of crude centerpiece. "-press the blue button."

The numbness in my legs dissolve. I watch in amazement as the metal that trapped my legs melts as if it is liquid. I scramble to my feet. My legs still feel like jelly and I stumble in my first steps. I feel like an awkward toddler in the eyes of my mother. Weak and easily corrupted. I just have to get out. I reach the elevator and it brings me to the lobby. Inevitably, I see two guards. One small and one big. Probably to take me to my room. They sieze the bracelet and lock it into my arm. The bigger one takes out some sort of tazer. I thought he was going to zap me but he taps it gently to my bracelet. An electric currrent runs through my wrist and the blue button lights up for a fraction of a second. I suppose it's on now?

I touch the bracelet. I run my fingers around the smooth surface, trying to find cracks or seams that shows where the bracelet opens and closes.

"Don't try to open that, little girl. It's made out of Alloy 1090. Strongest metal in the world. You'll injure yourself trying to get it out." He laughs, his belly vibrating like a laundry machine.

I stare at the ground and try not to look at other people but I can still feel their gazes trained on me, burning my cheeks. Guards weren't seen a lot walking on common tunnels to invoke fear and rumours about how they look like and what they can do.

"Psst." I hear someone whisper behind me. I glance back and see the smaller guard. At first, I thought I was mistaken. He looked straight ahead like any good soldier would do but then I realized that his hair was dyed blonde sloppily so that it looks like his hair is more brown that blonde. And his dull blue eyes look familiar.

I realize that I'm staring and turn around again, but not before I recognized his face. Surprise almost makes me shout but I wrestle the impulse away.

"Your brother's in Alcatraz," Merury whispers.

"I've heard. You were right after all," I hiss, remebering what he said in the closet.

"Am I always?" he jokes.

"My mother locked up Marlin," I say, ignoring his vibe. "She locked up Horus too. Says she's looking for you."

Mercury looks surprised. I have no idea why I am being nice to him. Maybe because I'm tired of trying to face all my problems. Suddenly, I feel old and tired, as if I just realized that I was holding up the sky on my shoulders. While trying to stop Marlin and Flyer from creating a cave-in in District 13. Not fun.

"Rooba, District 13 is not your home. You've known it from the beggining," Mercury starts.

I say nothing. He presses on.

"Your mother doesn't love you. Your father is dead. If you stay here any longer Marlin would probably die from numerous visits to Alcatraz."

I wince. Mercury backtracked.

"What I mean is-"

"Hey, I'll do it."

"What?"

Mercury says this loudly and the bigger guard turns around and waves the taser-thing threateningly. I speak in even smaller voices.

"I'll come to New Brooklyn. Anything is better than District 13."

Mercury fell silent for a while, shocked at the venom in my voice. He regains his swagger shortly.

"Excellent. We can-"

"Wait, Aerolous. I have a condition."

"What is it, lice?"

I ignore him. "I'll go if Marlin goes. Which means breaking him out."

I can practically feel the grin developing in his face. "All part of the plan. Zee and Horus has decided to go. Marlin... well, Marlin goes wherever you go. Just leaves you. Now that you've said yes, I'll bust Horus, Marlin and you out. Tonight, actually."

I nod. Zee agreed already? She never told me. My heart shrinks to a size of a walnut. I just said yes to a stranger. I have no idea who he is and I don't even know the purpose of this Evacuation. Why are they taking people out of District 13? The gears in my head are working to no avail. I should just go with the flow. I can always come back, right?

I am quiet for the rest of our journey. We shortly arrive at the door of my compartment. I see Flyer's room and wonder if she's also suffering punishments with Marlin. I look away. The last I need is visions about Flyer and Marlin getting whipped or something horrible like that.

_It's just Level One_, I think. It's alright.

I obediently walk in and sit in my bed. Amazingly, Marlin's bed is gone. The wardens must have taken it away the moment they were notified of his absence. The big guard reaches to close the door and, underneath the other guards' arms, I see Mercury mouth, _tonight_.

So I sit there. I don't do anything. I wait for the night. It's a very long wait and I sometimes find myself lying on my bed in an awkward position. I glance at my smudged schedule out of habit, though I'm most certainly cannot attend my classes. By four, rumors should probably already travel about Marlin's and my absence. They all know I'm Coin's daughter. The possibilities are endless.

I wait. And wait. I lie on the cool floor and hum some songs. Still waiting.

Tick tock. I am staring at the clock as it blinks its green numbers and a new minute replaces its predecessor. I think of how little sounds it makes now and compare it to the racket it makes in the morning. It doesn't look so innocent right now. Now, it looks like a lion, waiting for when the prey is unaware before pouncing on it and shocking them awake with its vile speakers. I wait.

I take a shower to pass the time, though I don't need it yet. The water soothes me. I watch the black ink in my arm disappear and stay there for a few more minutes. I come out wrinkled like a prune. I resume my seat in the bed and wait.

I realize that I should have been doing my homework all along. I grab blindly under my bed for my bag to find empty air. "Shoot," I say. I left it at Coin's office.

I hear the door creak open, the first noise I heard other than the shower, my hums and my swearing. I look up and see Zee rushing in. At least, I think it is.

Zee wears a soldier helmet, which she tucked her dark hair under and her eyes were a stunning blue. She has a messenger bag banging against her hip and she looked like she was ready to take on a whole army. And a fleet of fighter airplanes. Her urgent manner brings me to my feet.

"Who, what, when, where, why?" I ask. I think isolation is getting to me.

Thankfully, Zee acts like she didn't hear me. She hands me a dark backpack similar to my old one except this one weighed much heavier.

"What's inside?" I ask.

"Stuff," Zee says. "Supplies, medicines, food. All you need to survive outside. Now come on! Merc's waiting."

Merc? I infer that this is Mercury. "Are we going to… you know?"

"Break into Alcatraz? Yes we are," Zee says with a mischievous grin.

For some strange reason, I am excited. I'm practically shaking with anticipation and excitement. Maybe it's horror. Or terror. Either way, I've already said yes and turning back would make me look weak. Add the fact that I can't stand another minute in this room.

Zee leads me out of the room where I see Mercury waving a hand at me, still wearing the soldier uniform.

"How did you break in?" I ask Zee. "I thought this place was supposed to be guarded twenty-four-seven."

"It is," she says. She points to the ground and I see the fat guard on the floor. A metal dart sticks out of his temple. I suddenly feel that there is more deadly weapons in this bag than Zee is letting on.

"Quickly, now! The cameras will get footage of us if we stay here any longer!" Mercury hisses.

The journey is a blur to me. It only consists of running through corridors, sticking to the shadows and the occasional turn. I realize that I am hungry. I haven't eaten anything and the only thing keeping me up is adrenaline. This is exciting.

Suddenly, Mercury stops. Zee and I bump into him. He's looking at the ceiling. I follow his gaze and see a vent.

"Oh no. You expect us to climb through this vent?" What is this? An old spy movie?

"I suppose you can stay here. Unless you want me to leave your brother. Come on, I'll give you both a lift."

We get into the vent with a few punches, grunts and shuffles. The vent is so tiny, it is impossible for you not to crawl. The entrance to the vent was strangley not guarded. Coin has some bugs in her system. Our luck at not having been spotted yet is incredible. Almost unbelivable. I must interrogate Mercury about this later.

The walls seem like they are crushing me. It doesn't help that we are sweaty and sucking the air out of the vent. I worry about our oxygen supply. If somebody happens to cut the cheese, it would be quite a disaster.

"So," Mercury says breathing heavily. "This vent leads to a network of rooms of Alcatraz. It's easy get lost. We need a map."

Shock!

"So our first stop is the control room," he continues. "The vent will go up and we'll come out of the floor, behind some computers. We then snag a map of this place. I can navigate through the vents but I still need a map. I've seen the vent. It's too small for me. Any volunteers?"

No way it's going to be me. I'm clumsy. But I don't need to worry.

"I'll do it," Zee whispers. "Where do we find this map?"

Mercury thrusts his hand on his pocket and fishes out a bronze rusty key. "Find a cabinet with the code SAF948. Don't worry, it's close by."

If he couldn't fit through the vents, how does he know about the cabinets?

We keep going forward and we see that the vents branch off to the sides. Finally, the vent went up and we find ourselves staring through slits. We see the back of a white metallic desk. I can hear some people speaking in tight, smart voices, several phones ringing and an orchestra of computers typing. There is also the unmistakable sound of heavy combat boots marching in measured distances. Soldiers. Possibly with guns.

"You don't have to do this, you know," I whisper to Zee.

She shrugs her shoulders as if she didn't have a care in the world but the dull light coming from the vent reveals sweat streaming down her forehead. Mercury reaches out to the edges of the vent, but instead of trying to pull it open, he unscrews the screws as if they weren't even drilled there in the first place. It falls out easily. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. You'd think that secret headquarters would have more security. Mercury motions for Zee to go. I can feel her inaudibly gulp beside me but she dissapears into the light. Now, all we have to do is wait. I sit on the floor, hugging my knees to my chest and not daring to breath for fear of discovery.

"Should we close the vent?" I whisper.

Mercury shakes his head. "No. Too risky."

The wait is longer than I thought. My breath echoes inside my lungs and every move Mercury makes sends my blood rushing in my veins. Finally, my patience is awarded by Zee leaping lightly leaping down the vent with a yellowed paper crumpled in her right fist.

"Got it."

Mercury refastens the vent and we crawl back safely in the middle of the vent. He carefully opens the map and studies the lines. I peek over his shoulders. All I can see his massive lines with codes on them branching off boldly and spiralling dizzyingly. Mercury glances back and sees me staring.

"Do you want to read this?" he asks.

I avert my eyes. "That's what I thought," Mercury says.

After a while, unable to stand the tension, Zee bursts out. "Well? Where is it?"

Mercury's eyes flashed. "Right under us."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**As you might have picked up, a mystery centering around Mercury is unfolding. Ha. I know some of these things are far-fetched, but in a later chapter, all will be revealed, so don't flame me or stuff. I'm extremely paranoid.**

**Oh, and if you want to see a weird spoofed version of the end of this chapter because you have nothing to do, go to my profile and scroll down until you reach the bottom. Me and my friend (sorry, my friend and I. *eye roll*) wrote this up in class because we were bored.**

**Till next time! Review!**


	5. The Daisy

**Author's Note: Hello again! I'm sorry for the really long wait, but this chapter is worth it. It's the story's first real fight scene. And it won't be the last! I'm a little short on reviewers lately. Again. So, I really need you to review! Many thanks, let the show begin.**

* * *

"Excellent, are we supposed to drill a hole under us and hope we don't make too much of a racket?" Zee asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"No, there's a hidden latch someplace here. Says so on the map." Mercury points to a part of the map. I don't bother to decipher it but run my hands along the vent walls.

"Hey, I got something," I say. I felt a slight groove under my fingernails. I follow the groove and trace a small human-sized square under me. The panel was so fine that I couldn't even see the split, only feel it.

Mercury reaches into his bag and pulls a tiny swiss army knife. He finds the knife tool and works on opening the seam. The knife makes an worryingly noisy scraping sound. It easily falls out but Mercury didn't grab it fast enough. It fell to a clatter to the floor.

"Hey! You! Come out!" a man's voice calls out. Dread fills my stomach and we flatten ourselves to the floors hoping not to be seen. I hold my breath, fearful that they might hear us. After a few minutes of silence. I hear a different voice.

"Jare, stop messing around." It's a woman's voice. She sounds agitated.

"Lady, do you not see this hunk of metal lying on the floor? There might intruders!" the man, Jare, says.

She lets out an exaperated sigh. "I don't see anyone. If there were, the system would have warned us. It might have been a rat. And don't call me lady. Now for heaven's sake, put that gun down!"

Guns? Mercury didn't say anything about guns! It wasn't in the job description! I see Zee tense beside me too, which is somewhat a comfort because if no one else is terrified, I'd look like a wimp.

Silence follows. Then, Jare grunts and slams something onto a table. The gun? I exhale as quietly as I can.

"Thank you," the woman's voice says sarcastically. "We'll get the maintenance to fix this."

"Aww, Friz. I was having fun with the two newest shrimps." I tense. If he lifts a finger against Marlin, I am going to break it and the rest of his bones in his body.

I hear a door creak open. They must be going out right now. But before the door shuts again, the Jare's voice rings out.

"You two. This room is full of sensors. If you make a move escaping, I will know. If someone comes to help you escape, I will know." Jare laughs. "Welcome to Alcatraz, boys."

The door finally bangs shut and I muster up enough courage to go peek in the room. Zee pulls me back.

"What if there's cameras there?" Zee tells me.

"No cameras, only heat sensors. They can see if there's another person here through heat signals," Mercury says.

I can only think of the scene I saw in the room. There was nothing in the room. Marlin and Horus were chained on the wall with only their wrists. I can see blood welling out from their cuffs. There was nothing physically wrong about them except for their wrists, but I know Marlin in and out. He never stands up straight like that. There are never creases on his forehead. He doesn't clench his jaw or make a fist. Something's very wrong with him and I am afraid that the answer is more complex than just fear.

I realize that Mercury is talking and I tune him on again. "...move fast. Maintenance is coming and I've got a feeling five or six minutes is our deadline to get Horse and lil' kid out and move out of the vents. Then there's the heat sensors. We shouldn't be able to do it, but hey, that's what weapons are for." He grins and reaches into his bag. He hands me and Zee a heavy black stick. We stare at it with disbelief.

"A stick?" Zee asks. "We are supposed to fend off an army of grown men, possibly with guns, with a small thirty centimeter stick."

"Please, save the sarcasm for someone else. Press the button. It enlarges into a spear." Mercury says while rolling his eyes.

I spin the stick in my hand and see a bump. I press it and the stick expands and get lighter.

"Wow," I breathe. The point of the spear is sharp and shiny. It also almost skewered Mercury.

"Not now!" Mercury says. "You almost killed me."

"Oops." I retract the spear again. "Well," I say guiltily. "You should have said."

The next minute, Mercury tells us the plan as quickly as he could. Zee and I guard the door in case of unpleasant visitors. Mercury will cut through Horus and Marlin's bonds. We then allow Mercury to step over our hands and climb back to the vent, where he will pull us back us one by one with a rope. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. But if all else fails, prepare to engage in combat. We set to work. Mercury jumps in first and even before he lands on the floor, an earsplitting alarm set off. We are prepared. Zee jumps next and I follow. We expand our spears and lean by the door. Sweat from anxiety were already pouring down my forehead. The first thirty seconds was alright. Mercury works on Marlin's wrists first. He gets through the left cuff when I hear shouting. Suddenly, the door flies open and someone pushes me and Zee to the floor. I land on my stomach and roll to my back. I scramble to my feet and face my attacker.

He's a big fellow, his sleeves ripped off to show his biceps. He's chin was covered with a messy stubble and his teeth were yellowed, probably the effect of smoking. He looks like a person who might smoke. So anyway, it's two little girls with no training experience versus a big smelly ape. Fortunately, he wasn't carrying a gun. He might have thought that he could subdue both of us with his bare hands, but we've got spears.

Mercury starts to cut through the bonds faster but it's hard. They were made out of hard metal. I can't see past the guard to see if he brought back-up. Why would he? We're just kids. Big Fellow sets his eyes on Mercury and charges through us, as if we're invisible.

Zee moves so fast she's a blur. In less than two seconds, she's on the floor, tackling the heavier man to the floor. He drops with a sickening thud. He lands on my feet and instantly stirs. I hold the spear with both of my hands like a pro golfer and swung. It connects with his head with a crunch. He dropped back down. I hope he got a concussion. There was a slamming noise. I look back to see that Zee has thrown her back to the door. The alarm is still on. Everyone in District 13 would have probably heard the racket. I turn back to Mercury's progress and see that he broke all of Marlin's chains. He's on the ground, kneeling and rubbing his wrists. I run to him and pick him up with a sweeping hug. I might have crushed some of his bones. The hug lasts for barely a minute and in no time another thug rushed in. He must have been able to push past Zee. And he brought followers.

There are three of them, all wearing the same ripped up uniform as the first one, the one laying on the floor with a concussion. Zee was on one of them, dodging blows and giving them like a little whirlwind. Mercury whips his head around and hands over his knife to Marlin. I'm not sure that it's a smart move.

"Cut Horsey free," he orders. "I'm going to help the girls." Folks, you're witnessing a true gentleman.

In my periphal vision, I can see one of the thugs trying to sneak up on me. I back away as quickly as I can. It almost works. At first, I leap back fast enough for his meaty hands to just brush my shoulder, but then he lungs at me visiously and smacks the side of my head. I land on my side, sticking my hands out to break the fall, though the breath is still knocked out of me. Before I get a chance to recover, my attacker grabs me by my shoulder and shakes me violently. He grabs me by my hair and bangs my head on the floor. I see stars behind my eyelids. Blindly, I kick out with my boots and it hits home.

His sweaty hands let go of me and he's clutching himself. I roll to my stomach and use my spear as a prop to get on my feet. By the time I do, he's recovered and is marching to me, though with a slight limp. I have my back against the wall and take a second to asses the battle. Mercury is doing just fine. Marlin is on to the last cuff. If we just hang on a bit longer, we can escape. Those chances are slim. Zee's attacker has her by the throat and she's squirming to get free. I can't help her now. The door is open. More thugs may be rushing to the spot right now. The thug reaches me and I brandish my spear fearfully. I thrust it at his ribs but he grabs the spear- by the blade- and plucks it out of my hand and flings it away.

His bloody hands are reaching for me and I am unarmed. The next best thing I can do except run is fight tooth and nail. I close the distance between us. I can see the surprise in his face. I must look like a beaten prey. I shouldn't be able to fight. But I do. I rake my fingernails along his cheek and bite his left arm. He yowls but I bite harder. He shakes his arm to release me and my mouth fills with blood. I don't let go, instead I fling my left arm at his face. I hope it gets him in his eyeballs. After a while, my jaw starts pounding and I let go. I see the bloody angry flesh on his arm and smile in satisfaction, hoping my teeth is bloody. I feel like a vampire. I fight the urge to speak in a drawling Transilvanian accent.

"You fight like a wimp," I say. I heard some boy say that to another boy a few years ago. They got into a fight and one of them got his teeth knocked in. It carries great offence.

I can see the change in the man. He starts behaving more animalistically, with flaring nostrils and crossed eyes. He darts to me and grabs me by my shirt and pins me to the wall.

"You wish, muskrat," he says.

Then he spits on my face.

The next thing that happens is weird. I get really angry and the edges of my vision reddens. The sounds of other skrimishes became muted and I can hear myself screaming as if from a distance. As if in slow motion, I put my hands on his shoulders, lift my numb-with-pain feet and settle into a horizontal crouch on the wall, my body weight supported by the lump of meat in front of me and the wall behind me. The man's eyes widen and I push off the wall. The speed of my attack is too much for the thug. Before he knows it, his body is plummeting to the ground, my weight on his neck. His head met the floor and blood spread from the tiles. His grip on my shirt loosens and I back away, my hands bloodied. Did I just kill a man?

I start to hyperventilate. _No no no_, I keep repeating to myself. But it is futile. I am a murderer.

I close my eyes and swallow the bile that rose in my throat. I clench and unclench my fists. When I open them, I force myself not to look at my feet and look at my friends' battles. Mercury's thug lay bruised on the ground while he watches Zee's battle. Zee is well, burying her spear on her thug's foot. Good. He can no longer walk, which is fine.

As long as he's not dead. I shudder.

"Done!" Marlin announces as he breaks the last cuff. His high voice breaks me out of my reviere.

"Right! You know the plan!" He walks to the vent and looks at Zee and I expectantly. Zee and I link arms and with a count of three, hoists Mercury to the ceiling. He jumps and catches the edge of the vent like a cat. A second after he hauls himself inside, a rope drops from the ceiling.

I sigh, thinking of the man I had killed. "Let's get out of this place."

* * *

I land in a crouch on the hallway floor, a burst of cool air greeting me after the heat of the vent and the fire of the battle. We were bloodstained, mostly our blood but partly the thugs'. Everyone except Mercury has crawled out. When his bleached hair popped out of the vent, he neatly jumps out and hits the ground running. He's fast. We struggle to catch up. His steps were urgent and desperate. I've got a feeling that this isn't over. To confirm my fears, I hear a shout behind us.

"There they are!" I turn around and immediately wish I didn't. We got a whole bunch of thugs pursuing us.

I concentrate on following Mercury, though I sense that Marlin is falling behind. I push him ahead of me and ran.

The halls of District 13 had never been louder. Everyone is gasping and pointing at our scruffy group as we fly through the underground labyrinth. Mercury suddenly veers left, into an elevator. We pack inside, just as the first thug's hands stick into the closed space. Zee kicks it out of the way and we acsend. It was quiet for a while, except our laboured breathing.

Finally, Horus breaks the silence. "Umm... dude? What if Coin stops the elevator?"

"Can't," Mercury breathes. "The elevator isn't connected to Coin's system. It doesn't even have a system. It's powered by hydraulics and usually a surplus of energy."

After being with Mercury for a few days, I have found out about thirty flaws to District 13's security system. This is impossible. Such information is only entrusted into Coin's leading engineers, which is about two. No one, especially not a kid, could have known this. I keep silent though.

I hear Marlin take a sharp intake of breath to my left. "We're really going are we? To New Brooklyn?"

That is a good question. I murdered a man. Will the journey be harder? I should consider it, but what about the punishment that will face me if I go back.

After a pause, I whisper, "Yes. Hold on, little brother. This is going to be one heck of a ride."

Just then, I hear a big thump. Mercury punched the elevator wall.

"Hey!" Zee says with a scowl. "This thing's the only thing keeping us in the air, dufus."

"I can't take this!" Mercury yells. "This thing is so slow!"

"Well, maybe it's because we're several kilometers in the earth," she reasons.

Mercury makes a sort of cross between a grunt and an exparated sort of roar. "Sorry. It's just that I'm not used to these things. Go faster!"

Then, a smooth lady's voice beeped through an unknown place. "Excuse me. Would you like to go faster?"

Mercury's face lights up like a child's on Christmas. "Oh yes, please!"

Oh no. The elevator speeds up so considerably, we're rivaling the speed of light. I'm pressed down to the floor and we all scream. Well, except for Marlin. He's probably having a time of his life.

Suddenly, the elevator stops rising in an abrupt halt. We all rise to the air a few inches from our momentum. We sprawl on the floor of the elevator. Someone's foot is in my face and my finger is touching something wet. Is it a tongue or an eyeball? I take my finger away and wipe it on my loose pants. My back is aching like crazy. It landed on someone's elbow. One more bruise added to my list.

I sit up just as the lady pleasantly says, "You have arrived. Thank you for using elevator B-92."

"I hate you," Zee says. Wether it's directed to elevator B-92 or Mercury, I don't know.

But as soon as the door opens, I forget about my worries. Light streams in and it takes my a while to adjust to the light. I realize that I'm staring at something. I focus on it like you would focus a camera's lens. It was a daisy.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Omigosh! I just turned the main character into a serial killer! Confused? Next chapter will be a bit more explanatory. A filler.**

**The Author's Note is drawing to a close and this is the time where you listen to that little voice in your head that says, "Review."**


	6. The Starving Hound

**Author's Note:**

**Look.**

**I have a perfectly logical reason why I haven't updated in a long time. My sister was using my laptop for photoshop. Her laptop didn't have one. So I had to get off the computer and do something physically active. Like walking across the living room and parking my bottom on another couch and doing my homework there.**

**Also, just a note, I promised (pinky-swore) my friend (who made Zee) that there would be romance in this chapter. Yay!**

**... hate to break it to you, but because of writers' block and a hole in the plot, there would not be any romance, unfortunately. Also, before you say anything else, this might not be the best chapter I have written (again). I'm sorry, okay? Sheesh. Read ahead.**

* * *

"Wow," Marlin says.

"It's... it's..." I say, unable to finish the sentence.

"Sunny," Zee finishes.

"Bright," Mercury agrees.

"Brilliant," Horus chimes in.

We are all in a trance, but I am looking at the flower.

"No, no. It's a flower."

Everyone looks down. They all collectively sigh.

"Yeah," Zee says. "It's pretty."

"It's stunning. It's beautiful."

"It's the most natural thing I have ever seen."

"It has come down to shower us with it's splendid powers of floral godliness."

Marlin said that. I stare at him incredously. He just shrugs and continues looking at the flower. It must have been comical to any normal pedestrians, if there were any in this wild, untamed beauty. We were a group of bloodied kids lying on top of each other staring at a flower as if we were the thirstiest person in the world looking at a glass of water. Marlin gets up first, pulling himself from the mess. He's in the back of the elevator and he picks his way gently in to the front. He trips on someon's limb but he eventually gets out. He steps over the daisy, and looked out to the forest over the fence. He starts running to the fence and presses his face into the fence. I can practically hear him inhale the fresh air.

Zee crawls out and stands. She offers her hand at me and I took it. She has a grin plastered on her face.

"Smells like home. Except for the lack of coal dust." Zee closes her eyes as if deep in meditation. Then, in snaps up open again. "Race you to the fence." And she's gone.

I chase her through the dusty clearing, laughing harder than I've ever did. It felt good to drown your sorrows in laughter. Zee reaches the fence first and is already helping Marlin climb over the fence. Marlin drops down the other side. Zee jumps down shortly. I hook myself on the rusty metal fence and pull myself up. I hear Mercury and Horus behind me. When I reach the top of the fence, I don't immidiately jump down. Instead, I look back at the ruins of District 13. The elevator is actually disguised as an old house. My eyes travel up and down the landscape. It has the same feeling of neglect and destruction as the last time I saw this place. Vegetation was growing on the walls of the buildings and rust and rain dominated the ghost town.

"When smoke fills the skies and chaos the ground,

Death shall come like a starving hound."

I look to my right and see Mercury hunched over and staring at the same landscape. I look at him, horrified at his choice of words. He sees me staring.

"It's an old wives' saying from New Brooklyn. My mom's full of them. It's about the destruction of District 13."

"Oh," I say, not knowing what to say. The abandoned town looks even more sinister. A cloud passes over the sun and it gives the impression that it is blanketed with fog, the day the bombs striked.

"Are you planning on staying up there all day?" Zee calls from the ground. Horus is already down. I turn and jump down ungracefully. Mercury thuds down behind me.

"Oh oh oh!" Marlin was jumping around in little circles around Mercury like he was an Indian pumped on caffiene. "What do we do next? That was so awesome, the way you beat those guards! Are we going to build a fire or something! I just saw a lady bug!"

Mercury hovers a finger in front of Marlin's nose and the kid went cross-eyed trying to look at it. Mercury then spins the finger in tight circles and Marlin's head follows the finger's every movement like a dog. It was hilarious. I try to swallow my fist in an attempt to kill the laughter but failed. Zee is clutching a stomach and Horus is grinning like a fool. Can't blame him, though, can't I?

Then, Mercury snaps his fingers. Marlin blinks. "Hey!" he protests. "Did you hypno- hipe- hyn- did do something to me?"

"No, little brother. And it's hypnotize. I was just messing with you. My sister back home falls for it all the time," Mercury chuckles.

Marlin genuinely looks hurt for a while and Mercury opens his mouth to apologize when Marlin says, "Like I said, what are we supposed to do now?"

Mercury looks amused now. "We walk."

* * *

"I spy with my little eyes, something green."

"A tree."

"Aww. How do you always get it right?"

"I spy with my little eyes, something red."

"Umm..."

Zee has walking beside Marlin for the last half an hour. We take turns playing 'I spy' with him because he needs an outlet for his hyperactivity. I shake my head and mouth, _ten more minutes_.

Zee rolls her eyes and says to Marlin, "It's your hair."

"Oh!"

We've been walking for practically hours, with Mercury in the lead. He looks like he knows what he's doing, but sometimes he pauses worryingly as if confused where to go. This is the stupidest thing I've ever done.

"Hey Mercury," I say.

"Hmm?"

"Can we stop now? I can't feel my legs."

"No. We have at least an hour until nightfall and I want to put as much distance between us and District 13 as we can."

I sigh. No point in arguing with him now. We walk for a bit until Zee suddenly appears next to me.

"Right. Your turn."

I walk up to Marlin and start playing. I let Marlin win.

"I spy with my little eyes," I say. "Something black and crawling." I make a point to stare directly at the bug.

"A cockroach!" Marlin says triumpantly. "That reminds me of the time me and Flyer found an old closet full of them and released them in class! That was so funny! Did you see the look on Ms. Lentil, Fly-"

Marlin suddenly stops walking. I stop too. "What?"

"Rooba! I forgot to tell Flyer we're leaving! She's going to be expecting me! I should run back or something!" His voice has risen to hysterics.

He turns to run but I grab his wrist. "You can't go now! It's too far!"

Marlin twists free under my grasp. I reach for him again but he leaps back. "No! You don't get it! She's my friends and friends stick together forever!" And he starts running.

Before I get a chance to react, Horus comes out from behind a tree and Marlin smacks into him.

"Grab him!" I yell to Horus.

He didn't need me to tell him twice. In a blink of an eye, he's holding Marlin in the air. Marlin kicks out and lashes out.

"Umm... I think we can stop for the day," Mercury says behind me.

* * *

After Mercury trying to teach us how to make a fire and then doing it himself, everyone falls asleep around the raging campfire. Except for Marlin. Mercury assigns him to first watch because he's too restless to fall asleep. He's looking at the flames with such blankness that I'm afraid that he fell asleep with his eyes open. But I know better. He's still thinking about Flyer.

_He'll see sense in the morning, it's not my fault_, I think.

I close my eyes and wait for sleep to take me. It doesn't. I wait in silence, listening to the flame crackle. I involuntarily open them again and I see Marlin still staring into the the inferno. A wave of guilt washes over me.

I sit up but Marlin doesn't look at me. But his head turns sideway a bit, away from me. He's really mad. He's not even talking.

"Sorry about Flyer," I say. He doesn't reply. "I mean, I know you're friends but Flyer still has her parents. She's better off back in District 13." Marlin still doesn't say anything.

I sigh. "Go to sleep. I'll take over the watch. It's going to be a long day tommorrow."

To my surprise Marlin curls into a little ball, still facing away from me. Then, he talks.

"Last year, Flyer told me that if I leave her, she'd be really sad. But if I ever do, she'll send me an message everyday. I promised her that I wouldn't ever go, not in a billion thousand and one years. I pinkie promised her. I guess she doesn't know how far away I'd be going, because I don't think that there are any communicuffs in New Brooklyn."

Ouch. I can hear the sadness in his voice, which makes him sound years beyond his age. This time, I don't say anything. The first watch lasts two hours but a few minutes into the second hour, I get another conversation.

I was just staring up in the stars when Mercury wakes up. Actually, he sat up so fast I thought that there was an attack. But then I realized he was yawning and rubbing his eyes. I guess he saw me looking because he says, "Sorry. Just some crazy dreams."

I nod but say, "You owe me an explanation."

He stops rubbing. "What?"

"You know what I mean. Is leaving Marlin depressed worth it? Getting to New Brooklyn, I mean. I still don't understand why you have the Evacuation. What's so important about it?" I ask, unable to stop the words from spilling from my mouth.

"Oh. That." He sits up and pulls something from his pocket. It's looks like a necklace. He fiddles with it. "Well, since you asked. Around three centuries ago, way before the Hunger Games, an entire household of Avoxes revolted against their master and killed his family. They were caught and sentenced to death. But this act stirred up a tiny rebellion. Avoxes rioted. They were quickly crushed though, but a group of around fifty escaped north into New Brooklyn. There, they met people."

"People?" I say, confused. "Everyone in North America was divided into the Capitol and the Districts. No one escaped."

"That's what you think," Mercury countered. "These people, they're just like District. Before the disasters, they were homeless people. When everyone's houses were swept away with the tsunami, left broken by the earthquakes and swallowed by the landlides, those people survived. When everyone went to the Capitol for help, those people hid and they thrived. It's amazing, really. By then, they've set up a small working town. Long before District 13 got bombed. It was the only peaceful, free town there is. Now, this town wasn't technologically advanced, but they knew how to survive. Then came he disease. Swept across the population like a raging fire. No one knew how to cure it. It became known as the White Disease, because everyone turned pale before they died. When the disease finally faded, the population was left crippled and little. There wasn't enough healthy people to feed the entire town. So the remaining avoxes told-"

"Told?"

"Wrote," Mercury corrects himself. "Communicated. Mouthed. Which ever you want to hear. The point is, the avoxes informed the people about the Capitol and the Districts. They came up with the Evacuation because they wanted more people to rise up the population and bring it back to it's former glory. They take people from different Districts, occasionally the Capitol, to gain new skills and knowledge. They they recruit young boys on the verge of manhood, like yours truly, to become messengers and Evacuators. We've been training for a few weeks until we're assigned a mission."

"So... we're called in to New Brooklyn to work?"

Mercury looks shocked. "Well, we only Evacuate people who has problems. Who won't protest if they're taken away from their home. People like orphans, homeless people, people who want a new life, people who have tyrants for mothers. They're usually glad to be whisked away. It's a win win situation. Think of us as social service."

Mercury ties the ends of the necklace together behind his neck and hides in behind his shirt. I feel compelled to ask.

"What's that?"

"My little sister's token for me. She made it just before I left. We're allowed to take tokens with us. An idea from the Hunger Games." The word send chills in my spine, now that it's the cause of Zee's home getting destroyed.

"Is this like the Games?"

"Not even close, though some Evacuators have been known to have been... well, MIA."

"Missing in action?"

"Yeah. No one knows what happened. Most think that they got, you know, caught. They were there one day, gone the next. That's why we have spies stationed in the locations. As backup. That's how I knew that there was a way in Alcatraz and how Zee didn't get caught in the headquarters. We've got the escape planned out weeks ago. But sometimes, even that doesn't work."

"Wow. You guys are willing to do all this to save your town? You must really be in trouble. Do we have a good chance of, you know, dying?"

"I sure hope not. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get some more wood. The fire's dying. Just go to sleep." Mercury stands up and disappears to the shadows of the night, without the aid of a flashlight or anything flammable.

But I didn't care. The story was interesting, though I was quite tired. We had walked forr the entire day. So I do what he asked and bury myself in my blankets. I didn't dream at all. Maybe my brain knew that I was having too much trouble and wasn't going to handle nightmares. I excuse myself from reality and sink into the glorious silence of unconciousness.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Told ya so. This was mostly a filler chapter, what with Mercury explaining his life story down to how every single gene in his body was created. I hate myself. A sucky chapter is usually accompanied by a sucky ending. This chapter was to mostly assure everyone that I am not stopping this story. You are free do browse the fanfiction archives now.**


	7. The Wolf

**Author's Note:**

**No reviews today except for a rather enraged friend scolding me for not putting in romance. Meh.**

**But, REDEMPTION! I have installed, rather cleverly I may add, some romance! Well, it's too early for full-fledged romance, but I've planted the romance seed and you will see more of it in other chapters.**

**Read. Now.**

* * *

I wake up to the sound of growls and tearing fabrics.

I dismiss this as a dream, but then something lands on my chest- hard. I knocks the breath out of me and my eyelids flutter open. At first, I could not comprehend what I was seeing. There were huge shiny eyes without the whites, making it look cold and menacing. It all around the eyes were masses of stark white fur. Underneath the fur were sharp, pointy fangs. And they were bloodstained. It reeked of death.

I blink my eyes of the drowsiness. My sleeping bag is ripped. The object standing on me was a wolf. A big one. I scream and it's growl drops an octave lower; a sign of aggression. The fact that it is looking at my throat doesn't help either.

Impulsively, my hand leaves my side and grabs at the ground. It brushes against a stick from the fire. I grab it and stick it in the wolf's maw, just as it lunges forward to end my life. Spittle rains over me as the mutt furiously tries to dislodge the charred stick from its mouth. I scamper out from under the wolf. Confusion and disorientation clouds my thoughts. My blood is humming with adrenaline but my mind can't register anything around me quickly. My eyes are still trained on the raging wolf as I back away, only to trip over my packed bag. The bag tips over and opens, spilling a couple of knives. I scoop them from the ground, slip it on my belt and run. Heavy footballs follow me. I know I'll never outrun the animal, but I've got to try and climb a tree.

My brain finally jumps into action and I scan the treelines for an easy climb. There's one old tree with a lot of branches and foot holds to the left. I launch myself on it and perch on the shortest branch. I take the time to balance myself and throw a knife to the wolf and slow it down. It gets the wolf by its ear. I can see blood welling up from the newly-made nick. But it didn't slow it down and I lost a knife. I growl in frustration and start climbing. I climb out of the wolf's reach. It didn't work. It leaped into the tree and climbed as though it was human. I was too stunned to move at first, giving the wolf an opporunity to claw at my face. I dodged the paw but it hit my shoulder. The claws latch at my skin and I yelp in pain. I load my left hand with a knife and drive it into the its shoulder, hoping to make it fall and damage its abilty to climb. It falls but gets back up on its feet.

I have no choice but to outclimb the wolf. It's not easy and with every feet I ascend, my sense of vertigo gets even more frightning. I finally get to a branch that's too thin for me to balance carefully. I wobble for a bit and the branch cracks under my weight. This all happened so fast, I couldn't even move. I drop like a weight, spinning myself midair and grabbing at the tree bark for a branch. I knock the wolf down too. I realize I'm still holding the knife. I grab another from my belt and drive the blades through the bark. I come to a gradual halt, just feet away from becoming a pancake. The wolf, however, is a lying on the ground in an awkward angle. Ouch. He's a pancake.

I lean back against the tree and stare up at the sky while panting like a dog. The last bit of fog clears out of my head and remember the absurity of it all. Where is everyone else? I lower my gaze and sweep it across the clearing. No one was there except for three similar wolves lying on the ground. They were dead, unconcious, or really good actors.

"Hey Rooba! Over here!"

I look up to the voice and see my friends up in the trees. Mercury has an arrow notched to a bow. Everyone else is holding some sort of weapon, glinting with blood. As soon as I saw them, my stomach drops with relief. I run to the bottom of their tree, waving my hands. My head was pounding.

"Hey! We're still alive!" I call.

I hear Horus give a small tired chuckle. Everyone starts to drop down into the earth. They look haggard and shocked, as if they just woke up, which, actually, is probably what they were doing did five minutes ago.

Zee is clutching a big dagger. She stares at it critically, like it did something wrong. Then she looks up almost nervously at Mercury and says, "What just happened?"

Mercury shruggs like it was nothing, but he was still jittery like it shook him up real bad. "Lycanthropes. Some genetically-enhanced wolves engineered by the Capitol." He walks to the nearest wolf and nudges its head with his boot. "The thing is, Captiol likes to 'update' experiments so they're better. Stronger. Faster. So outdated experiments, even though they're still formidable, get thrown out into the wild. They thrive, same as the mockingjays. They prey on normal animals, but they still have a taste for humans." He walks to another wolf and knelt next to it, only to jump back and notch an arrow to his bow. He lets it fly and sticks on the wolf's neck. "Sorry. That one was still alive. They're very good actors, you know."

The wolf dies with a high-pitched whine. I feel like vomitting on Horus's shoes, except he's holding a sword. Come to think of it, my head also feels like its going to barf my brains out. I have a splintering headache.

"If these things keep popping up," Zee starts. "We're dead."

"They might. Now, their claws has a bit of toxin inside of them. Anyone who gets swiped with them will get a bit of a snooze."

What? Everyone has got claw scratches. I look on my left arm for the gash that wolf caused me. The blood had already dried but I am feeling dizzy.

"Oh, crud." Zee was holding her leg that has a deep cut that was still dripping with blood.

Suddenly, my brain spasms or something, because I had to lean back to the tree behind me for support. Zee didn't find a tree fast enough so she's on her knees. My breath is coming out in short gasps. I look around at everyone else but only Zee and I seem to be experiencing... ah, dificulties. Mercury kneels beside Zee just as she retches her guts out.

"And this is what happens when you get clawed by a lycanthrope," he says in a matter-of-fact tone. "You won't die, though."

My grip loosens on the branch and I slump to the forest floor. "That wasn't a fair... warning."

* * *

I wake up propped up on the same tree. My headache is mostly gone but my mouth tastes like sandpaper. I'm thristy.

Licking my lips to keep it from drying, I open my eyes that seems glued shut. In front of me was a small fire with a spit on top of it, with some kind of unidentified meat roasting on it. Horus and Marlin was sitting besided it, each munching on already roasted meat. Next to me, Mercury was binding Zee's leg. She's still out.

"Mmm... this is good," Horus mumbles into his bite.

"Yeah," Marlin replies. "Better than that slop they serve at home, anyway."

Horus looks at me. "Hey! Lookie who's awake!" He grabs the spit over the fire and waves it in my face. "Have some of this. You know you want to." He grins maniacally.

I have to admit, it smells heavenly. I take the offering. "What is it?"

"Lycanthrope," Marlin mumbles.

"No, really," I say, not believing.

"Yeah, those things we killed," Marlin says.

"The best meat in the whole god-forsaken world, ol' buddy!" He grabs Marlin's shoulder and they start singing some drunk song. They seem to have bonded while I was out.

"_Oh, better far to live and die_

_Under the brave black flag I fly,_

_Than play a sanctimonious part,_

_With a pirate head and a pirate heart._

_Away to the cheating world go you,_

_Where pirates all are well-to-do;_

_But I'll be true to the song I sing,_

_And live and die a Pirate King!"_

They end the song with a hearty laugh. When thy come to a giggling stop, I ask them, "Where'd you learn that song?"

"Ah, some old dude in Juvenile Detention taught me a few years ago," Horus says.

I remember Coin pulling out a file that says that Horus was in trouble. It seems like a year ago. "Yeah, someone told me about that. Why were you there?"

Horus seems to realize his mistake. He pauses. Marlin gets interested.

"Oh come on," I say. "It's not like I'm going to turn you in."

Horus is still reluctant, but sighs and opens up. "Fine. I'm a criminal." He threw his hands up. "There."

This, of course, sets Marlin off. "What? What did you do? Were you a desperado? How much did you steal? Were you a pirate?"

I clamp my hand over Marlin's mouth. Horus looks thoughtfully at his piece of meat and sets it down. "Nah, Rooba. It's okay. It's true though. I steal a lot. Weapons, food, supplies, clothes, even toilet paper. I've been to Juvenile's several times already. In fact, yesterday was my twenty-somethingth. I've been to therapy too. The guys there said I'm either a klepto, or easily bored. I don't know. Just, when I see something worth of the slightest value, I pocket it." He runs a hand through his hair as if deep in thought. "Yeah. Am I weird or what?"

"Yeah. You're really wierd," Mercury pipes in without looking up from his work. "But that's why I chose you." He finally looks up from Zee and smiles at Horus. "Chin up, buddy. Your sleight-of-hand skills will be useful in New Brooklyn."

Horus shrugs but picks up the his meat again. I remember my own meal and bite into it. Even though it's already cold, the meat is wonderfully smoky. Its delicious. Way better than the stuff they serve in District 13.

Suddenly, Zee wakes up, sitting up so fast, her head almost smacked into Mercury. "Wolves!"

I hand her a piece of meat, just as Marlin and Horus begins another round of the song.

* * *

Minutes later, we're back on the road. Surrprisingly, my shoulder wound is already taken care of and there's barely any pain. Zee doesn't even walk with a limp. Marlin is playing another game of 'I Spy' with an exaperated Horus.

But I can tell that something's up with Zee. She won't meet my eyes and was deliberately watching the ground. She hasn't talked for about five minutes, which should be a record.

"Hey," I say, trying to make conversation, because the silence is smothering.

"Hey?" she replies.

"What's up?" I say lamely.

"Not much. Just walking. You?"

I laugh. The sarcasm is still there. "Same. It's nice to see that Horus and Marlin's getting along just fine," I say, gesturing at the two. "At leasy we won't have to play 'I Spy' a lot."

Zee snorts and falls silent again. After a few steps she says, "You were talking to Mercury the other night." It's a statement, but I know that she's asking for me to elaborate.

"Yeah. He was telling me about New Brooklyn and our mission. He knew I was slightly mad that I'm not filled in about everything, the luck we've been having throughout this mission. Basically a really long history lesson."

"Ah. Mercury didn't tell us anything more," she says in a quiet voice. She raises her tone a bit, but enough so that no one can hear us. "Is there's something going on between you two that I should know?"

I look at her, probably with surprise written all over my face. "No! Don't be silly. I just met him and the first time, he dragged me into a closet." I guess that that came out wrong because Zee's eyes widened. "Not in that way! He interrogated me there, dressed as a fat ninja!"

Zee shrugs but faces forwards again. "Well. Then why did he talk to you in the fence? Why did he talk to you at night? I thought that something must be up."

"What?" I say, my voice rising. "What do you mean?"

"I mean stay away from him!" she whisper-screams.

Horus looks at us, confused. I put on a smile and shake my head. Fortunately, Marlin gets his attention again with 'I spy something fat, green and poops a lot.'

I turn down my voice. "What?" I repeat.

"I said stay away." She looks like she wanted to slap herself.

Either that meat was doing weird stuff to my brain, or I'm slow. The answer comes to me in sluggishly. "You like him don't you?"

If looks could kill. But Zee isn't one to lie. "Mm-hmm." A thick blush crawls to her cheeks.

I can't comprehend Zee pining over some boy. "You mean, like-like or just like?"

"Like, like-like."

I stare at Mercury walking alone in the front, looking at the trees as if they hold some sort of landmark. They probably do. Mercury, like all boys is oblivious. So that's the reason why Zee was so quick to agree to go away to New Brooklyn.

" You should talk to him, you know."

"Me? Nah, he looks interested in you. I'm just ordinary. He never looks at me," she says.

"You're calling me pretty?" I laugh. "With all these freckles? I'm not in love anyway. If he did like me, I'd turn him down." If possible, she blushes even more.

We finally walk in comfortable silence. Problem solved. I tune into Marlin and Horus's conversation, leaving Zee to her thoughts.

"I spy something red and small," Marlin sings.

"Those berries in that bush. My turn. I spy something black," Horus mumbles.

"That bug?"

"No."

"Our shoes?"

"No."

"That thing in the sky?"

"Huh?"

We all look up. It's true. It's a winged shape that looks like a bird, only it's too far away and too big.

"What is that?" I ask.

Mercury answers. "It's a plane!"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**I googled that pirate song. I planned this chapter to be longer, but it would be way too long. I put in a cliffhanger, if you didn't see. Is the plane good? Is it bad? Is it actually Santa Clause's sleigh? You'd be surprised at the answer. Jokes!**

**Now, for the love of friggin humanity, REVIEW!**


	8. The Sneeze

**Author's Note:**

**Guess what? No reviews. It's been... what, three chapters without any reviews? I know that some of you put this story on alert. Please, I just want to know if anyone's reading. If you reveiwed, review again. Gimmie anything! A word, a letter, a happy face, a full-blown flame! This is counted as a good chapter. I expect at least one (note my desperation) review.**

**All who review will get a virtual smooch. (Even flamers.)**

**Now, raise the curtains, characters enter stage left. Scene 8, Act 1. Three, two, one... DAZZLE!**

* * *

"HIDE!" Mercury yelled. He pulls our arms to get going. We dive for different hiding places. I end up under a bush with Horus. Zee darts up a tree, now concealed in a leafy tree. Mercury ran behind a rocky wall, one that can hide him but gives him a clear way for arrows. I have no idea where Marlin is.

The shape in the sky dips a little, as though wanting to land. It was mortifying. I remember the level of superior technology they have, even higher than in District 13. What if they saw us through some kind of twisted telescope?

When it lost altitude, the shape began to take form and color. It was dark blue and prowled the skies like an oversized tiger. I hold my breath. Hoping that it's just experiencing some turbulence or whatever.

They don't land. When they disappear out of my limited vision. I crawl out of the bush, ignoring the scrapes and bushes from the brambles. Horus follows and Mercury straps his bow behind his back. Zee hangs from a tree branch before letting go.

"It's went where we're headed," she says worriedly.

"That may be a problem," Mercury says. Captain Obvious. "But we'll risk it. It's not like they're going to be looking for five dirty-looking kids with some weapons."

Quite the contrary. We'd look suspicious. But we keep on walking. The bag on my shoulders feels like a hundred pounds. While resting, I take inventory of the pack. There's the knives I used, a bottle of water, the retractable spear, walkie talkies (some sort of primitive comunicuff), dried strips of meat, darts (for fun or for poisonous intentions, I have no idea), a swiss army knife and a coiled rope. That's it. We're supposed to survive on that.

After what seems like a decade, our ragtag group reaches a big white building.

No, it's not big. It's gigantic. It's colored a regal white with Greek collumns supporting the flat roof. There's even a lawn in front of it, recently-trimmed and a stark contrast from the wild and sprawling forest. We hide behind bushes. On the lawn, a hovercraft has landed, the same one we saw previously. There's men with white uniform hustling about near it. Peacekeepers.

They seem to be unloading crates, probably filled with weapons of war. We watch them for a bit. Then, when all the crates were out of the plane, other people came out. They aren't Peacekeepers, though. They were dressed in brown clothes, dirtied and ripped. They look downright depressed. All their heads were drooped down and shoulders were hunched forward. They were young people, some young enough to be teenagers my age. They appear to have been living in the wild for a while because there are twigs in their hair and mud on their sleeves. Their wrists were cuffed behind their backs and they were trawling forward in lines. Even from the woods, I can see that some of them is crying. They were prisoners.

The Peacekeepers hold guns and looked on as they were patted down for weapons. These Peacekeepers were different. They were tougher and seem to have been born for war. The backs of their shirts said, "Operation: Flying Colors" in big, black, authorative font. One of the prisoners had concealed a throwing knife under his shirt. The Peacekeepers find it, untied the man from the group and led him away to the back of the building. As soon as he dissapeared from my sight, I hear a chilling scream.

"What are they doing?" Horus whispers to no one in particular.

Mercury points at the prisoners' line. "Those are Evacuators!" he says, shocked. A blonde-haired boy walks out of the hovercraft and Mercury gasped. "Tobias!"

"What?" Zee asks. "You know him?"

Mercury nods tightly. "Yeah. We're friends. We were given our tasks at the same time. He went to District Two, which is really dangerous. But the safety measures has been set, so he wouldn't be arrested. He shouldn't." He turns to us. "Get ready. We're going in."

* * *

"You're kidding me, right? You're kidding me?" I say incredously.

Mercury shook his head. He looks serious for once. "No. Those are Evacuators. People I know. I'm going to rescue them even if you won't."

"You can't!" I whisper. "They have guns and torture systems. We'll get pulverised! Then no one would benefit!"

Mercury looks to the sky like he was praying or something. "Then, I'll go alone. New Brooklyn is up north, like I told you."

"But-" I say, thinking of all the dangers in the wild without a guide.

"Rooba!" He looks at me as though urging me to understand. I just stare back blankly. Frustrated, Mercury turns to Zee and says. "Make her understand."

Zee takes a deep breath. "Sorry, Merc. I kinda agree with her."

"So, you're leaving us here, possibly to die? You do know that we're probably going to turn into lycanthrope kibble on the first night, right? Isn't there a rule against that or something? In the Evacuation guideline handbook or something?" I ask sarcastically.

"Or something," he says.

I open my mouth to say something but then, Horus says, "So the only thing we can do is follow Mercury."

"Yeah!" Marlin says.

I whip my head to face Marlin and Horus and give them the evil eye.

"Thank you!" Mercury says.

We have to stay together to increase our chances for surivival. A fool would know that. Getting seperated would mean death. Well, early death anyway.

I clench and unclench my fists as I say. "Fine. Let's go with your plan."

Someone, Horus probably, gives a small whisper-scream of triumph.

"Can it, Horse."

* * *

It rained.

No, I mean, it poured. Gallons and gallons of water is pouring out of the sky and on to our pitiful bush, slowly getting squashed by the sheer power of the downpour. I guess you can use that raining cats and dogs metaphor. Marlin sneezes. I look at him concernly because having a flu now isn't exactly convinient.

My jacket is already damp and the cold water is slowly leaking into my undershirt. I shiver and look at Mercury muderously.

"Well, at least it can provide good cover," he says. "You guys know the plan?"

We all nod. He has explained it to us at least half a dozen times. Rightfully so because it's quite complicated. After a lot of whining, we got Marlin to act as a lookout guard, the safest but also very vital. He's suppose to monitor the coming and goings of the building safely inside the forest line, using the walkie talkie.. Horus, Mercury, Zee and I will come inside and find the jail cell but we'll dispatch Horus as a checkpoint and also as an inside guard, also using a walkie talkie. He's also the strongest one, so it won't be a problem holding off guards and running , the three of us will get inside and bust everyone out. Escape plan: None. Piece of cake right? Negative.

Mercury stands up and gestures us all to move forward. I'm in the rear of the group. Mercury sprints silently to a behind a near truck. He looks back at us and wave a hand to say that the coast is clear. Zee follows. Then Horus. As I prepare to run, I pat Marlin in the back and say, "Good luck and be careful." Then, I run to the truck.

It isn't a long run, just ten or eleven meters but in the open sky, I feel so vulnerable, like a rabbit sprinting across a moor, fearful of getting caught by an eagle. I remember what Mercury tells us and crouch low. Not a lot of Peacekeepers are milling about but none sees me. When I arrive in the safety of the big bulk that is the truck, I heave a sigh of relief, to remember that there were six other trucks before we actually reach the building. It's a big yard.

Second truck. As nerve-wrecking as the first one, but the distance is shorter.

Third truck. Less nerve-wrecking.

Fourth truck. Getting the hang of it.

Fifth truck. I think someone saw me but we're moving too fast for me to care.

Sixth truck. A shout. A bullet.

I yelp and crane my head to the right. A Peacekeeper is holding a gun at me and is shouting words drowned out by the heavy rain.

"Move!" Mercury yells, already inside the building. We ignore the last leg of the journey and dive into a backdoor. He slams it shut and grabs a chair and jams it under the door knob. I just hear him doing this. Actually, I'm taking in the surroundings. It's entirely a pristine white hallway with several metal doors on each side and chairs and files outside each door. Everything looks like it has been recently polished, our wet muddy boots making big dirty marks on the floor. It's eirrily quiet, the silence deafening from the roar of the thunderstorm. We can only hear our own breathy pants and the squelching of our boots against the floor. It looks just like District 13. A wave of flashbacks pass through me almost overwhelmingly.

"Everyone okay?" Mercury's voice rang through the hallway, jolting me out of my reverie.

"Fine," I say. Horus grunts and Zee nods.

"Then keep moving. And weapons at the ready. You don't know what's behind these doors. Quickly."

We sneak around in a line, me at the second last. Horus the last person. We left our bags behind but stock up on weapons. Our belts were full with deadly items. My walkie talkie is safe and dry inside my pants pocket. I jam my only gun, my retractable spear and all my knives in my belt. I was going to bring my darts and a swiss army knife but I had no more pockets and Mercury said that it will weigh me down. I slide a good seized throwing knife into my hand. Horus grips a retractable spear and Zee fingers two large fighting daggers. Mercury holds a gun, a risky gamble, since we each only had one. He holds it near his face like a professional.

After a few minutes, nothing came out and jumped at us, though I'm scared for invisible cameras or getting sneaked up on. We turned left when things went downhill. A computerized screech emitted from nowhere and a casual female voice says, "Attention. Intruders. Intruders. Releasing mutts. Attention. Intruders. Releasing mutts."

We face behind us and look at a huge door. A red light is beeping. Mutts.

"What do we do now?" Zee asks, looking at the door nervously.

Mercury looks aggravated. He looks ahead of us. There's a hallway which seperates into four hallways.

"We split up. Walkie talkies if you find the cell." The red light turns green and the door starts to open. We hear unhuman growls. Somehow, a gravelly low voice finds its way into my head.

_Kill... kill... flesh... kill..._

They sound like zombies but they must be the mutts. They finally burst through. They didn't look like lycanthropes. The were much more well-kept, not like the wild mutts in the forest. They are in the prime of their life and the fur was a uniform grey. It's maw was bigger and there are wings sprouting out of their backs. They were smaller, but the wings will make them deadlier. The worst feature were their eyes. It's a haunting grey shade that pierces your soul and tears them into pieces. They are the embodiment of everything humans have feared since the beggining of time.

"Run!" Mercury yells and leaps in front of us, shooting two bullets at the mutts, instantly downing two.

Horus grabs my arm and pulls me along. Zee runs first, taking the leftmost hallway. Horus pushes me to the tunnel to right of Zee's and runs to the third, leaving Mercury the rightmost hallway.

The hallway I'm pushed at looks different. It's entirely black.

I stop after a few paces, thinking that I'm falling into an abyss. I'm not but everything looks the same. I smack into a wall when I begin running again. I keep running again, keeping one hand on one side of the wall. I look back and see that some of the mutts are in my hallway. I sprint faster and hit another wall. This time, it's right in front of me. It slowly dawns on me.

I'm trapped.

I face the incoming mutts. I'm making my last stand. It's strange, having only read about last stands in books and fairy tales. It's weird being in the place of a knight raising his sword to combat a fiery dragon that had cornered him. Instead, I'm holding a knife, rather shakily, and am facing a horde of winged dogs.

Everything seems to slow down. I put my left foot in front of me and hold the throwing knife with my thumb and index finger, using my left hand to grab more knives. It's impulse. I've been doing this for months, hunting all those animals for Marlin and Coin. It feels natural. I bring my right hand forward in a large sweep. I watch it as the blade spins midair and digs itself into the abdomen of one of the mutts. It falls silently. I have another knife in my hand by then. I send it to another one. Reload. Another one. Then another. I bring down three until a fast one launches itself at me.

I dodge to the left. I expect to smack into the other wall but fall through the blackness...

And back into the white.

It's the same white hallway again. There's a wall behind me, the way she I came through. It was strange and I feel like Alice when she went through the looking glass. I guess that this is some kind of portal or a secret wing of the building. It must be, what with the security around here. I push myself to my feet. Instantly, I feel a pain in my right hand. I have not gone unscathed. Blood is welling up again. That stupid mutt reopened the injury I got from that lycanthrope. And it's not stopping. This is a problem, since my right hand is my throwing hand. If it hurts too much, I have to switch to my left, and I'm not left handed. For now, it will have to do.

I run a hand across my belt. All my weapons are still there and I had only used up three knives, a fourth in my hand. I keep moving, trying to find out my bearings and how the heck I'm supposed to find that jail. For now, I decide to follow the hallway. Fuming, I contemplate Mercury's stupidness.

After all those survival skills, I would have expected a safe and reasonable approach to the situation. I would have expected us to still be together. Forget everything, I would have expected an escape plan! Now, all we can do is find those prisoners and bail them out, hoping that they will know the way out from the way they came in. One word. Thisreallysucks.

I hear footsteps. Panicking, I look around frantically for a hiding place. Then an arm grabs me. Blindly, I sweep my knife in the general direction of the attacker. He yelps.

"Geez, Rooba!" It's Marlin.

"Mar-" he doesn't give me time to finish. He pulls me to another hallway just ahead of us where a stack of boxes is piled conveniently for us to hide in. If the Peacekeepers didn't turn back, they wouldn't see us. We hold our breaths, not daring to move. The Peacekeepers were talking but using terms I didn't know. When their white suits come into my vision, I stiffen. They were only there for a moment. I breath a sigh of relief. Marlin pulls at my sleeve and crawls to our right. He stands up and whispers, "Knife."

What? No way I was going to give a little ten-year-old a knife. Shouldn't it say "Ages Thirteen and Above"?

"Why?" I say instead. He points to a vent above him. I almost smack my forehead. Marlin sure is smart. Now if he dedicated his smarts to his school work instead of espionage tricks. Nah, that'd be boring. I hand him the knife and carry him to give him space to open the vents. It takes longer than I thought and the Peacekeepers' footsteps ceases, only to be replaced with harsher tones of debates. They must be in a conversation and deeply debating some sort of issue. Great. We have to be really quiet now.

I spoke too soon.

"Rooba?" Marlin says, his sawing stopping.

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna sneeze."

Immidiately, I bring him down to the floor and cover his mouth with my hand, regardless if his snot splatters on it. He can't stop it. He's still sopping wet. He's got a cold.

He takes a deep breath and let everything loose.

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**Author's Note:**

**How was that? Review! Oh, I am currently co-writing a Maximum Ride fic with my partner, Silver. wings. 05. If you read Max Ride, please click on my profile and scroll down until you reach an announcement and a link to this story. And while you're there, please take my very awesome poll.**

**Yes, this is me lamely advertising for stuff. Here's another: If you review, you shall get a... no, not a virtual cookie, not a virtual brownie, not a virtual pancake/waffle/oreo/snack. But a virtual mansion. Who doesn't like mansions? (even though the scary renaissance ghostly Beauty-and-the-Beast ones creep me out.) Reveiw.**


	9. The Bullet

**4u+h0r'$ N0+#:**

**No, that was not me swearing. But I am close. No reviews again? Come on guys. Give me a break! I feed you these words all the time! Did you find another author? A better one? Luckily, I hired better readers. INVISIBLE ONES! Muahahhaha!**

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I barely feel my hand getting soaked with snot. I leap into action, grab my retractable spear and use the blunt end to hit the vent open, the bars tumbling out with a big crash. Then, I hoist Marlin into the hole. The first Peacekeeper sees me. He looks young, not like the usual Peacekeepers in District 8. I ignore this, scoop the bars and throw it like a Frisbee. It hits him and stuns him, though not quite knocking him out. I take a few steps back, run to the vent hole and launch myself next to Marlin, who helps me get up.

We crawl, trying to get away from other Peacekeepers. He's still shouting. After a while, his incessant yells finally fade away to nothing and we decide to stop. Examining my scraped shins, Marlin says, "That was a close one."

Then, I remember. "What are you doing here?"

He looks at me fearfully, almost apologetically. "Uh... saving your butt?"

I think about it. "That's true. But this is some initiative you're taking."

Marlin is about to defend himself when someone screams. The sound bounces on the closed walls of the vent, making it ear-splitting. It came from a vent in our right. Abandoning our fight, we crawl as fast as we can to the sound. After a few feet, another vent hole opens up underneath us. Through the bars, we see Zee. And she's fighting a whole army of mutts.

We look as she charges at one, duck as it passes over her and stick both of her fighting knives in its belly. She takes it out again in a sickening 'shlock' and rolls out from under it. Another leaps at her and she backs away quickly. It lands in front of her and she lashes out, taking out its left wing. She's spitting and swearing like a cat but they had cornered her. It isn't long when a mutt attacks her from the behind when she's busy with another. She quickly disappears under a writhing mass of hybrid dogs.

Without thinking, I stomp on the gate, knocking it away. I jump down, expecting to hit the floor with a bang and attract the monsters but instead, I hit one of those aforementioned monsters. I end up sitting on the back of it, gripping it by its neck. It roars in rage and attempts to shake me off by flying wildly around, smacking itself in its walls and in the process, me. I'm getting dizzy and the thing is moving too fast for me to get a knife and stab it unless I want to fall off and get turned into pancake.

The mutt then flies in a loop, suspending me upside down before my sweaty hands looses it's grip on the mutt's fur and I fall down. I hit the floor on my side and I lie there for awhile, knocked out of breath. When I open my eyes, Marlin is right in front of me, tugging at my hand to get me up. I push of the ground to my feet again. Marlin has several knives at his ready. I draw out mine too. We charge in the most furious part of the battle and fight.

It was a blur of stabbing, dodging and slashing. But it's also full of blood. Mine and theirs. I feel slash after slash. Then, somehow, I find myself back to back with Marlin and Zee. They aren't looking too good, but then again I must look like them. Mutts surrounded us.

"Guess this is our final stand, Roobie," Zee chuckles, amazingly able to find the humor in this. Another final stand in five minutes. It's a new record.

Just as I was about to die, a shout of defiance rang across the room. It sounds human. I crane my head to find the source of the yelling. My eyes land on two boys waving spears and swords.

Mercury and Horus!

Excellent, now we can die together. But I admire their spirit. I take out another knife and hurl it at a monster. It misses but hits another monster on the side of its head. Huh.

I run a hand on my belt for more knives. I have used them all. Instead, I take out the retractable spear out and before I get to press the button, a mutt jumps on me. I crumple to the floor again, the spear in rod form skidding across the room, where it disappears into battle. The mutt faces me, I swear it has a grin on its malicious face. As it was about to tear my throat off, its eyes suddenly blank out and rolled over me. I look at my rescuer. It's Horus, with a sword. I salute him and for a while, he's distracted. A mutt's on its back paws, wings extended claws about to slash down on Horus.

"Look out!" I shout.

It's too late, Horus glances back and the mutt claws him across his face. Horus falls to his side, bleeding. The mutt was about to deal Horus a killing blow and I'm weaponless. Desperately, I check my pockets. Nothing's there except my coin. I take it out as a desperate attempt. I clamp the coin between my middle finger and my index finger and throw it like a discus. I feel like the David to the Goliath. It hits the mutt on the forehead.

I was hoping that it will knock him out but it just bounces off his forehead. At least this brings his attention to me. The mutt opens its wings and charges at me. I duck and it slams into the wall. I run to Horus and instead of picking him up, I grab his sword just as the mutt rebounds against the wall. I hold the sword upwards and it drives itself in my sword. It falls limp.

I wipe my sweaty and bloody forehead with my sleeve and check on Horus. He's unconcious and the gash on his cheek is bleeding fast. I've got to get him back up and running, but I don't have a clue how. I look around for Mercury. He's busy fighting.

Swearing, I take off my jacket and press it into his cheek to stop the bleeding. I hope it's the right thing to do, since I've never had to heal anyone, not even when I'm in the wild, going to District 13. Suddenly, Mercury appears next to me.

"Cover us," he says. "I'll try to wake him up."

I stand up and engage myself with an oncoming mutt. We fight for a while until it gives me and opening and I drive the sword into it. After it falls, I stagger a bit around. I look back at Mercury and Horus and see that Mercury has his hands on Horus's chest and that Horus's eyelids are already opening.

Suddenly, I hear Marlin above me. "Rooba! Get everyone and let's go!" He's holding a rope.

I nod and race to Mercury and Horus.

"Run to the vents! Marlin's there with a rope! Go go go go!" I'm starting to sound like Mercury.

I don't stay to see if they obeyed me. I run around, trying to find Zee.

"Zee!" I scream.

"Here!"

I sprint to where the voice comes from. Instead, she runs to me. She looks stricken and has only one knife. She has a mutt tailing her. I grab her wrist and pull her to the vents. Horus is already up and Mercury is scaling the rope. I then hurl myself to the air and catch the rope with both hands. As I climbed up, I hear Mercury release a bullet, as well as a dying howl. Back in the vent, I see Zee being tailed by mutt. Just as it was about to jump on her, she clasped the ropes tightly and we all pulled her up. I ended up with my back to the floor and someone's foot practically up my nose. It reminds me of the time we went on that crazed elevator while escaping District 13. It seems like a year ago.

Someone slams the vent gates shut. Now it's just us, the cold walls and the sound of our heavy breathing. I sit up and ask, "Hey, can I borrow someone's knife?" Okay, that doesn't sound like the most compassionate question, given that everyone's lying around with possibly fatal wounds.

Horus unbuckles his belt and hands it to me, more than half of the knives still on it. "Take it. I suck at aiming. I still have my spear."

Yay! I slip my belt off and trade it with Horus's. He can use the buckle like a club or something if he's desperate. Come to think of it, I could have used it as a club or something too back there. I mentally facepalm myself. My why-am-I-such-an-idiot feeling grew when I realized that I had a gun in my pocket. I wish I had an out-of-body experience so that I can kick my own butt.

"Can we take a nap?" Marlin asks. "My legs are numb." We hear a loud bark, presumably from the mutts still down below. Marlin jolts to his knees, since we can't stand. "The feeling's back. Let's go!"

We crawl and crawl and crawl. (Yes, it deserves to be repeated. We crawled for a mile.) We check every vent hole for signs of prisons. We've been above a Peacekeeper's canteen, a (male) bathroom, and some barracks where we found a napping guard, a clinic and an arsenal, where we swiped some bulletproof vests, another spear for me and a pair of bigger, more deadly-looking fighting knives for a delighted Zee. I had my eye on a couple of bronze-tipped throwing knives and Mercury some poison and arrows but we couldn't lift anymore items because of the chance someone might spot us. But we had pretty good loot.

Around half an hour after we started crawling, we saw it.

The prison was a long narrow hallway with cages lined up on either wall. It's a nest of misery, everything is quiet, but not like the austere quiet in the white hallways, but a lamenting kind of silence. Just looking at them makes my heart break in two. Some were pacing, shooting angry glares at the bars, some were on the ground, squishing themselves against the walls for some kind of invisible support, and some were huddled together, holding hands through the bars. I see the blonde-haired boy, Mercury called him Tobias, I saw being deplaned from the hovercraft. He's carrying out an inaudible with a girl next to him. She has short brown hair and she's almost entirely covered in a thin layer of ash. She looks like a victim of arson.

Mercury breaks the silence by unscrewing the bolts on the vent gate and kicking it open. It falls in a clatter to the ground. He boldly jumps down from the vent to the floor, which wasn't very far away, in the cramped condition. He gestures us to jump down. I'm next and stumble on impact with the ground. Everyone else made it to the ground safely, though Marlin almost did a face-plant on the dirty floor.

Mercury immediately rushes to Tobias. "Toby!"

"What's up, man?" Tobias sticks his hand through the bars, which Mercury slaps. They share a laugh. "Small world isn't it?"

"Dude, you okay?" Mercury says.

Tobias was about to say something when the ash-covered girl joins the conversation. "Hey, what am I, chopped liver?"

Mercury smiles at her. "Actually, you're the best sliced bread ever."

She beams at him. "Thanks. Are they your duckies?" She waves at us.

"Duckies?" Marlin asks. "We're no one's duckies."

She giggles. "Actually, duckies is slang for the people the Evacuators are supposed to resuce. The name's Nimbus, by the way."

We each greet Tobias and Nimbus with 'heys', 'hellos' and 'how do you dos' with the exception of Horus's stuttered greeting to Nimbus. Somebody has a crush.

"She's too pretty for you, Horse," Zee jokes, earning a punch in the arm from said boy. Horus is blushing hard. He's quite handsome, actually. Enough to have earned him several lady stalkers back in District 13. It's kind of Zee's style to tease someone about their crush. I just grinned through the exchange.

"Don't mind them. I'm fairly certain the mutts killed some of their brain cells," Mercury says.

"They can do that?" Marlin whispers to me. I shrug, giving him the benefit of doubt.

Mercury continues. "What happened? How did you guys get in here?"

Tobias became stone-faced. "They ambushed us. I was sleeping in the forest with my duckies. I woke up hearing gunshots. I have no idea where they are now." His voice choked in the end.

Nimbus saves us from an awkward silence. "I got sent to District 12. I was going to rescue this lad and confront him in the mines. I heard the Peacekeepers block the exit. They blew the mine up and I was almost buried alive. They got me out and transported me here. Now, enough sob stories. Get me out of this freaking cage. I think I've got freaking claustrophobia."

Zee fumbles with her new knife and tries to hack the lock of Tobias's cage open. It wouldn't open. By the third hack, she only made it halfway through the lock.

"You know that we're going to have to rescue everyone?" I say, trying to speed up the process.

"Right. So everyone grab a knife and start cutting," Zee replies.

Suddenly, a now-familiar siren booms out of nowhere. The speculating prisoners clamp their ears with their hands, some groaning. There's a huge gate in the end of the long hallway that's beginning to close with barred gates. We'll only escape if we sprint.

"GO!" Nimbus screams at us. "Leave us!"

Like a coward, I didn't look back until I reached the door. It has already closed half-way through the wide space. I duck under it and turn my head so quickly it snapped. Zee, Marlin and Mercury made it just behind me, but Horus is still outside Tobias's and Nimbus's cages. He's sprawled on the floor. From what I can see, he triggered some kind of trap and is now struggling to get his feet free from- what is that, like ice? - something.

Mercury swears and dives back under the gates. He flies to Horus and starts hacking at the ice with the blunt end of his sword. He can't get them to crack open. Horus grabs Mercury's arm to stop him and says, "Just go! The doors are closing!"

Mercury looks back and seems to be torn. If he leaves Horus now, he'll make it barely in time. But leaving duckies alone must be against the Evacuator's code or something because Mercury kept on hitting the icy cuffs. Horus grabs his belt and pulls out his gun.

"I'll shoot you if you stay! Save the others! I'll be fine!" Horus says.

"I don't care." Wow. That line made my eyes bug out.

Horus points the gun to himself. "I'll kill myself, then."

Then, a loud bang richoheted in the narrow hallway.

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**Author' Note:**

**Okay, I'm going to magically assume that you guys are busy studying up for whatever exam you have. Until then, my invisible friends will replace you. Are you jealous? You should be.**

**Peace out,**

**Me.**


	10. The Joyride

**Author's Note:**

**Two new reviews! I'm so happy! Thanks a lot, guys! It means a lot, my chums. Sorry for the late update. It's because I was adding some lovely romance scenes to it. I hope I did it correctly. Onwards!**

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"No!" I scream. Tears streak down my face. I can't believe it. Horus just killed himself.

"Not Horus," Zee says, her voice choked. "Peacekeepers." I struggle to find the meaning of her chokes when I look back at Horus, who is still trying to free himself.

So he's not dead. My head swoons with relief.

But a single Peacekeeper enters the room. He's still in the back of the hallway but he has his gun drawn. It's a big one. It's as long as his arm and he squeezed the trigger. The bang comes back and hits Horus. I scream again, but the huge bullet, the size of a fat pencil, just bounces off Horus, leaving a scorched mark on his torso.

Of course! The bulletproof vests!

Mercury ran just as Horus rolls over the best he can to shoot the Peacekeeper. The gate's already at waist-length.

"Come on! You'll make it!" Marlin yells.

A few foot from the gate, when it's already at knee length, Mercury drops. I thought that he had tripped but he turns his fall into a roll. He made it to the other side just as the gate closed with a permanent sounding crack. Zee and I pull Mercury to his feet. He shakes us off and grabs the bars, the barrier from Horus and us.

"Horus! I'll come back! I'll- I'll get the entire New Brooklyn to get you guys! All of you!" Mercury is stuttering. Nothing shakes that boy. Now, he's shaking like a leaf.

"You do that!" Marlin says, grinning down at us. Again, I see nothing funny. He's got a freaking hole in his vest!

We run, and when I glance back, Horus is being hoisted up and cuffed by the Peacekeeper, whom he failed to shoot. More are filling the room. Tears well again in my eyes butt we keep running.

We ran to who-knows-where. We pass through a cafeteria, with unsuspecting Peacekeepers. Luckily, they don't have any weapons on them. After the cafeteria is a door that said, WARNING: AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.

We push through it and find labcoat types hunched over laptops and pressing important-looking glowing buttons. They squint at us with their thick glasses as they calculated us like algebraic equations. We pay them no extra attention as Mercury runs over to a door that says, "To Hovercraft Launching Pads." He fires a roundhouse kick to the door, which swings open. Mercury takes a step forward and almost falls into the floor, ten meters away.

I feel the breath taken out of me as I look at sixteen, neatly arranged in four by four grids. It's a huge warehouse, with a glass skylight that looks like it's supposed to open up when those labcoats press one of their many buttons. There's a ladder below us, which we slid down. My hands are burning from the friction. We rush to one of the hovercrafts, all of us with the same plan on our mind.

Let's take a hovercraft on a joyride.

We leaped on the closest one. It was a beautiful black hovercraft. It had guns, which we will definitely use, and a thick, sleek design meant for speed.

We twisted the latch open and climbed inside. The interior of the hovercraft is grey and riddled with wires and lightbulbs, as well as two seats up the front. It's actually a big area, even with a wall with several weapons. You'd think they'd build more chairs. Since none of us probably knew how to fly a plane and none of us argued, so Mercury hops to the driving seat and buckles down. There is a pipe running across the top of the hovercraft, which Zee and I grab, having no seat. I push Marlin to the other available seat because he can't reach the pipe. My clammy hands grab for the icy pole just as Mercury starts the hovercraft. He makes the poor thing's tyres sqeal as he peeled it around the warehouse and into the light outside. The rain has stopped. There's even a rainbow. For some reason, I have the crazy urge to yell at it to stop shining.

Nervous energy, I guess.

Ahead of us is a long asphalt road. Mercury picks up the speed. The hovercraft goes faster and faster, until I can practically feel my skin peeling off my skeleton. Then, he lifts the thrusters and we are thrust into the atmosphere. I feel my stomach drop as the horizon disappears. As this happens, we are all screaming out lungs out- even Mercury.

Let me tell you, never trust a teenaged pilot. He then starts chuckling like this is funny.

It's terrifying. Lights suddenly starts beeping and through the window in the back of us, we can see that there's several hovercrafts taking off from the ramps. We're being followed.

"We are dead! We are so dead! Do you even know how to fly this thing? We'll die! We will die!" Marlin babbles, his hands gripping the armrests so hard, his thing fingers looks right about to break.

"Be quiet!" Mercury commands. Marlin shuts up.

I feel sick. My stomach is churing, though there's nothing to vomit out, since I haven't eaten anything than those delicious lycanthropes this morning. I can't even remember the taste now. Mercury raises the thrusters some more and we get enveloped into a flock of clouds. I can't see anything now. This looks like a bog, without the water or bugs. It's dark but at least we can't see the enemy. Then, we burst out of the clouds. I feel my breath taken out of me and I suddenly forget about my hunger.

The view is fantastic.

We are on top of the clouds, the bare sky sprawling on top of us, stars beggining to creep into the darkening sky. I can't see the sun but I know that it's setting because the clouds are a light pink. Our little hovercraft just hovers above the entire thing, the only sound I can hear is the hum of the engine.

"Wow," someone gasps.

Suddenly, this dream is jolted back into reality as I hear a loud boom. Then, the hovercraft shakes. And plunges into earth.

I shriek. I shriek for all I'm worth. This is it. We're going to die. That nice view is probably, like, a death wish granted by the universe. If I had the intelligence and reflex, I'd probably have thought of a better last word than, "AAAAHHHHHH!"

Mercury is out of his seat, pulling against the thrusters as best as he can. "Come on! Come on!"

I catch my first glimpse of the trees when the hovercraft suddenly slows down, but our momentum crashed us against the trees. I loose grip on the pipe and hit the floor with my jaw. I taste blood but I can't do anything as the hovercraft is torn up mercilessly by the branches. With a final-sounding thud, it reaches the forest floor. I don't want to wake up. I just want to lie here and sleep. Possibly die, and I wouldn't even care.

That's not going to happen. I feel a hand on my shoulder. Then I feel a slap in my cheek. My eyelids opens and I'm staring at Zee at the face. "Dude! Nap later, run now!"

She practically rips my arm out if its socket pulling me to my feet. I'm dizzy but I have enough common sense to grab several knives of the rack on the other side of the hovercraft and some sort of round machine of destruction. I'll ask Mercury about it later.

Then, I run out and the ground disappears under my legs. I fall to the forest ground, stumbling as I go. I manage to stay on my feet and fly to the forest, following the sound of my friends' footsteps. I blink my daze away. We're in the middle of the forest with no where to go. We burst into another clearing and spot a cave. Overhead, hovercrafts are beggining to fill the skies. We better head for cover.

I slip into the cave and see that it's a wide space, cleverly concealed with other boulders and a pine tree. It's probably safe from lycanthropes. We sit in a huddled row in the back of the cave, trying to calm down our nerves. I'm not sure how long we stayed like that, listening for danger, but sometime, I eventually dozed off to sleep.

I wake up craving for meat. Lycanthrope meat, to be exact. And water. My throat's burning. I'm still propped up on the wall, hugging my knees to my chest, still wearing my backpack. I unzip it and rummage for that waterbottle. I gulp it down. The water sloshes down my empty stomach. I seriously need to get it filled. Or I may just eat Mercury.

I grab one of my knives and stand up, obvserving my companions. They don't look in the mood for hunting, not even when the sky is bright and cheerful. Marlin's holding a stick so tightly, his knuckles are white. Zee's throwing rocks to the other end of the cave, watching them fly and bounce from the rocky wall to her again. Mercury's the worst. He has bags under his eyes and is pacing the cave. I watch as he grabs his spear and heads outside muttering, "Screw this. I'm going out to hunt. Don't follow me."

Zee stares at me and we exchange glances. "I think I should talk to him?" she asks me, rather than say. I nod. She leaves, disobeying Mercury.

At first, I don't understand why Mercury's so upset, when I glance around the cave again. I remember. Horus is gone. A chilling lonliness creeps out to me. Sure, he's only been a friend for a week or less, but he's part of our troop, and it's hard believing that he's gone. What would the Flying Colors people do to him?

Operation: Flying Colors... that was what those Peacekeeper's uniforms said. What is it? Is it a name of an army? Is it a name of some kind of Capitol project?

I look at Marlin, still holding that stick. I have the knife in my hand. I wonder what Mercury and Zee is talking about. Suddenly, I get filled with a burning curiosity.

I walk over to the entrance, passing Marlin and giving his hair a tousle as I say, "Take a nap, buddy. I'll see if I can sort anything out."

Marlin just stares at me. "Kay."

I shrug and squeeze myself out of the cave. I look at the skies. Clear. No hovercrafts in sight. I sigh in relief.

"Hey." That's Zee's voice. It's coming from behind the cave. I climb over the boulder and the entrance.

"You're not supposed to be here." Mercury. A growth of brambles is in my way. I stand up and step over them, getting my jacket snagged on it.

"I thought I might just visit you and check up on you." I can imagine Zee shrugging her shoulders. I tug the jacket free and hunt for the voices among the tall grass.

"You did. Now go back, duckie." Wow, did Mercury sound depressed. I locate them. They're in a shallow, sandy valley. There are trees all around it, providing me the excellent spying point.

Ahem. Vantage point. I'm like, a sentry or something.

I settle myself between two pine trees which gives me enough of a space for me to look at them, my red hair in the shadows. It's not comfotable, with the pine needles and stuff, but I am determined and focused.

Zee's leaning against the edge of the sandy wall, wringing her hands nervously like towels. Mercury is sitting on a rock, holding his head between his legs like he's about to vomit. The valley opens up to a nice mountainside view but Mercury's not looking at it. He's facing away from Zee and his spear is between them, still in rod form.

"No," Zee says. "That would be counter-produtive. I didn't get a scratch on those brambles for nothing."

Mercury sighs and they don't say anything for a while. Then, he says, "Horus is practically dead."

"What makes you say that? Those bullets didn't puncture him. He may be alive," she says, but she doesn't sound like she even believed what she was saying.

"Ha. Even you don't believe that," Mercury says, echoing my thoughts. "I killed him. I left him for dead."

"No. No you didn't. You promised you'll get help in New Brooklyn," Zee counters. "That has to count for something."

Mercury stands up to his feet and stalks to Zee. "Do you even know how far away New Brooklyn is? It'll take weeks by foot! By then he'll be dead! By then, everyone in those prison will be dead! Horus would be dead! Nimbus, Tobias and all those people! Do you even know what you're talking about? We are caught us in a war. A war that's not even ours. It's between the rebels and the Capitol and for some reason, they're turning their attention to us. This isn't a game, Zee Kavendish."

Zee's turning red, but I doubt she's thinking about her crush. She's angry. "Don't you think I know? I've been targeted by lycanthropes and mutts, I've been shot at, and I've ridden a one-winged hovercraft." She gestured to herself. "Don't you think I should be dead by now?" She pushes past Mercury. "The most important thing is to get us out of here fast, into New Brooklyn and rescue Horus."

" I know but," Mercury breaks off in a frustrated yell. "It's just that I feel like a failure. Getting a person abducted in the second day." He sits down again, staring hopelessly at Zee. Then, he miraculously chuckles. But this chuckle is forced and dry. "You know what my dad said the day before I was headed off to District 13? 'Either come back with those duckies or don't come back at all, boy!' Funny man, he is."

Zee plops down next to Mercury. She opens her mouth to say something something wise but instead says, "Well, did you try smacking his head?"

Mercury looks at Zee with his eyebrows raised. "Um... no. Anyway, that doesn't matter. You're right. Our priority right now is to get to New Brooklyn. I'm just afraid that we'll never make it, now that we know that those Peacekeepers are patrolling even over the borders of Panem."

"Well, you're the leader. You make the decisions, but I know you'll make the right ones." Wrong words. I see Mercury visually stiffen. Zee backtracks. "Even if you don't, we're behind you. And we'll fight. Even little Marlin."

"Someone call my name?"

I jump in surprise and raise my knife to my attacker to my right. It's Marlin.

"Hey, hey!" he whispers. "Human. No lycanthrope." Despite the shadows, I can see him grin.

"What are you doing here?" I hiss through my teeth, keeping one eye on Zee and Mercury.

"I got bored."

"Fine reason. Go back," I say.

"Nein." He pronounces it like 'nine.'

"Nine what?"

"Silly sister. It means 'no' in Ancient German. Duh."

I growl threateningly. "If you don't go back now, so help me, I will fill your bag with rocks and sew your lips together."

"No. Besides, this looks interesting."

I let him stay because this may distract him from the Horus Incident.

Yes, now I'm reffering to it as the Horus incident because I don't know what else to call it. The Sorta-Death of Horus Incident is a bit of a mouthful.

"Thanks, but if we die anyway..." He lets the sentence die and kissed Zee on her cheek.

It's short. A peck. It could mean anything from love to friendship to just an act of teasing. But it triggered a whole range of reactions.

"That's gross," Marlin says, holding his throat, pantomiming vomiting

Zee's head, cheeks blushing, turns sharply to Mercury, who's grinning. "What...?"

"The heck?" Mercury completes. "Nope you didn't mind. I just never really kissed a girl before. I just wanted to try it before I die."

"Get out."

"No, it's true. There isn't a lot of pretty girls in New Brooklyn, actually." This causes Zee to blush even harder.

Was Mercury flirting? I quote Marlin when I say, "Gross."

"Me neither, but it was nice. Thanks."

That's when Marlin and I decide to go back to the cave to not arouse any suspicion. I've got to hand it to Marlin, he's a great actor. When we stepped foot into the cave, he finds his stick and bends it ever so slightly as he did ten minutes ago. I took out my knives and start cleaning them, but I'm nervous.

Two inutes alter that, Mercury and Zee returns. "Hey," I say, somewhat casually. "Catch anything?" I'm reffering to hunting.

"Oh yeah. No, sorry. But I'm going to go hunting later again in the afternoon."

I nod my consent. Zee on the other hand looks apprehensive. What a kiss can do to you.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Yeah, kind of sucky kiss but it'll get better. Think of it as planting the seed. Please review, buddies!**


	11. The Skeleton

**Author's Note:**

**Is this my birthday? I got ANOTHER review! Yay! I'm on a roll, people! This is probably the fastest I have ever updated on this story. I can't help it! I'm too excited.**

**Change of topic. How many of you can do parkour? Or however it's spelled? Like it?**

**Whatever.**

**2, 4, 6, 8, what do I appreciate? R-E-V-I-E-W-S!**

* * *

The next day, Mercury decides for us to move.

"That's it," he says. "I'm sick of these cave walls. Pack your bags, we're going to New Brooklyn."

We oblige. There isn't much to pack. My water's nearly gone, though I didn't touch my bag of smoked meat. I have counted sixteen knives in total, all varying in size. My now-beaten up walkie talkie, my slightly elongated rope, several changes of clothes, my gun and my darts are still in my belt. I stuff them all in my bag and slot two knives on either side of my belt. Done.

Marlin is checking his bag. He pulls out five heavy-looking rocks and gives me a death glare. Heh.

"Well, you didn't leave," I scold.

Unfortunately, Zee hears me. "Leave?"

Uh oh. Come on Rooba. Lie! "Uh, he wouldn't leave the bathroom?" Idiot! There is not bathroom in the wild! I look into Zee's disbelieving eyes. "I mean, back in District 13. I always remember grudges. A brother-sister thing." I laugh nervously.

"Okay?" she says, just as nervously.

"Yeah."

Awkward silence.

"We should probably get going," Marlin interjects.

"Yeah," I agree heartily. Then, I walk past Zee to the little hole we have as an entrance. The morning sun burns my eyes as it greets me like an old friend. A stalker-ish old friend. I keep my gaze to the ground for the whole hike.

This time, Mercury takes us through dense forests, seeming paranoid for hovercrafts overhead. At the end of a stretch of closely interwoven trees, my face is filled with scratches from branches filled with thorns. I also have my share of spills from awaiting roots. Everyone looks like a hyperactive cat pounced on them, like what they do in the cartoons. What's more is that everytime someone makes so much a sound, he tells us to shut up. I'm tempted to get my knife out and cut the branches off but Mercury says that we can't leave a trail. What idiot wants to go through here for fun? If anything, we'll be doing a favor for another Evacuator. But noooo.

Then, something jolts me back to reality. A skeleton.

I had tripped over a root and fallen into some bushes headfirst. I turned and saw a smiling skull.

I yell in surprise until I stuff my fists into my mouth. I get up and back away. I bump to Zee.

"What? What's wrong?" she asks urgently.

All I can do is point. "Don't go there. There's a dead person."

Mercury does not heed my advice and comes swooping into the gap I made in the bushes. He flinches but forces himself to crawl deeper in the bushes. I hear a clattering sound. Then, Mercury pulls the entire skeleton out.

I gasp. It's stark white, with a bit of dried blood on it. It's also still wearing a jacket, some pants and heavy-duty boots. There's also a backpack. It stinks like death.

Mercury takes big intakes of breath. "It's not an Evacuator." He says this like it's supposed to reassure us. "Just a lost escapee. Looks like a kid. A thirteen-year-old at most."

A thirteen-year-old? That's already older than Marlin. I look at him. Instead of looking horrified, he looks curious.

I hear a ripping noise. Mercury is opening his backpack with a knife. The contents spilled over. "We can't use the bag. There's no room and it's coming apart," he comments. "But we can use the things inside.

The following are the contents:

-Two pairs of socks.

-A full waterbottle.

-A plastic bag full of nuts.

-A plastic bag full of smoked meat. (Which Mercury deemed rotten.)

-A towel.

-Several pieces of underwear.

-Fresh clothes.

-No weapons. (For which I am disapointed.)

"The poor guy probably died of some kind of sickeness. He has a lot of supplies and he's still intact."

"Great. Thank you, forensic scientist. Can we go?" I ask.

"Now, Rooba. Let's not waste an opportunity like this. Underwear, Marlin?"

We divided the skeleton's spoils. We evenly seperated the clothes, which were nice and big. Marlin got its jacket, though, because his were thinner than ours. We left the shirt that the skeleton is wearing on him, purely out of respect, because would you like to be dead and naked? It was holey anyway.

We threw out the smoked meat and Mercury got to keep the bag of nuts. Then, he threw the towel at Zee and I because he said that girls take so long to take a shower and dry their hair and that the towel will speed the process up if we find a stream to take a shower in. I smacked him with the towel but put it in my bag anyway. I also got the waterbottle because mine's almost finished. Mercury also extracts the steel-toed boots from the skeleton's bony feet and hand it to Zee as well as a pair of socks because it's useful to her combating style, which is charging at things with two knives and beating them to oblivion. Marlin got the other pair of socks.

After that, we got to go, our backpacks feeling heavier than ever.

At the end of the day, we found a hollow tree to rest for the night. It's the size of a huge closet and everyone needs to sleep sitting up and leaning against the walls. It barely fits us and if Horus was here, we wouldn't fit at all. We had rolled a boulder in the front for some kind of safety.

It's nighttime and I can hear crickets and a wolf howling in the distance. For some reason I can't sleep. I'm not exhausted, like yesterday, and the sounds sound foreigm. I guess I'm used to the hum of engines in District 13.

Instead, I look at everyone's faces. Marlin has a smile on his face. I can only guess at what he's dreaming about. A lot of things make him happy, such as pranks and Flyer. Maybe it's pranking Flyer. Zee's head lolls to Mercury's shoulder. They look like an old couple, but Mercury has his elbow propped on his knee and is holding his forehead with his fists, the very picture of a stressed boy. Even in his sleep, he's still thinking.

I look at the sky through the narrow gap between the boulder and the tree trunk. The stars glitter like gems, as if someone had scattered diamonds across the atmosphere. The moon... looks like a shiny banana.

I'm not joking. There's no other way to explain it. It's perfectly bendy. Sometimes I wonder how the moon looks like that. I'm no astrologer, but I think I'd rather keep it a secret than know exactly why it happens. When I was smaller, I used to think a rude giant took a big bite of it and didn't finish it. You don't see skies like these in District 13. I consider going out and getting some fresh air, but I've gotten a wee bit paranoid since the encounter with the skeleton. So I stay and just gaze out, breathing in the moonlight.

My thoughts wander. It became a chain that starts from my old life in District 6, Coin, Distict 13, meeting Zee, getting soaked with waterguns (courtesy of Marlin), getting aquainted with Mercury and finally ending with Horus.

Is this my life flashing before my eyes? Doesn't this happen to people who's about to die? I shudder. Thankfully, I am reassured when my thoughts start to wander to turtles. Maybe my brain just feels sorry for me, or maybe I'm showing signs of schizophernia.

Then I doze off, still about turtles.

The next week is uneventful. We get attacked by a pair of lycanthropes, which were not a big of a deal. We basically just hiked through the week, literally. Mercury is besotted with spiky hurtful forests. We didn't see anymore hovercrafts, though, which is lucky because now Mercury lets us slash through the leaves and pines. We climb the trees occasionally, to see where the heck we are, though it doesn't make a lot of things clear to me. All I can see a sea of green, some mountains in the background, the blue sky and up until the second day, the white, gleaming Flying Colors building. Where Horus is being held captive. Mercury had pointed to a river and said, "Shower!"

We took a bath in the freezing autumn river. It took a jump and a quick scrub with some kind of plant that Mercury found. It's a good thing I got that towel. We're still freezing afterwards and had to take an early break, huddled together and rubbing each other's hands. But it was worth it, feeling fresh and huggable, instead of wild, stinky and caveman-like.

At night, I stare out again at the bejeweled sky, and on the day, I learn. Mercury taught us all sorts of survival skills that I didn't even know when we were living off the earth when it was just me, Marlin and Coin.

Zee and Mercury grows closer together, sometimes talking inaudibly, heads together. One time, I caught Mercury grabbing Zee's hand, giving it a squeeze and quickly letting go, as if reassuring her of something. Not that it matters, but Rae Fennels, the school gossip, would've spread the news like a wildfire. Not that I would tell her.

Marlin and I have developed a more intelligent game than 'I Spy.' It's called 'Sentences.'

Yeah, I know. Lame title, but it makes up in fun. Two people have to make a story. We don't tell each other the plot we want and one begins with a sentence. The other person makes another sentence, joining it to the previous person. Then, Person One says another sentence. Then, Person Two continues. It goes on until we make a story.

"There once was a boy named Lotso," I had said.

"He was an idiot who breaks into his teacher's room and steals her underwear," Marlin said after a pause.

"Gross!" I say, laughing. "He would always hide it in his friend's bag to cover up the evidence."

"Hahaha! Ok, ok. I got one. He..." Marlin always bursts out in laughter before he finishes his funny sentence. Then he forgets it.

It's not always a joy being with Marlin. Sometimes, it's just plain depressing. I sometimes catch him murmuring the chorus of that drunk song.

"_Oh, better far to live and die_

_Under the brave black flag I fly,_

_Than play a sanctimonious part,_

_With a pirate head and a pirate heart._

_Away to the cheating world go you,_

_Where pirates all are well-to-do;_

_But I'll be true to the song I sing,_

_And live and die a Pirate King!"_

Marlin's always thinking of Horus. Everytime he so much hums the tune, I just want to punch someone and demand them to get Horus. Maybe a tree, but that wouldn't do much good.

Horus was a juvenile delinquent. He stole and maybe this was a sort of karma. He's true to the song he sings.

And he'll probably live and die like a pirate king, too.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Not my best ending. This is a mostly filler chapter but I promise next will be full of twist and turns. As well as blood. MUAHAHAH!**

**Please review! If more people review, we will be a big happy review family!**

**DISCLAIMER: I took the above 'big happy family' quote from a classmate (who I modeled Mercury off, though he's slightly more tolerable than said fictional character) who was reffering to a game called Minecraft. **

**Any of you play it? I just downloaded it a few days ago. I played it. Interesting game, though I keep dying. Stupid creepers.**


	12. The Fire

**Author's Note:**

**This note is going to be short. I just want to thank you all so much for reviewing! You have no idea how much it means to me! (Actually, you probably do if you've written a story, but that's beside the point.) So naturally, I'm giving you all... virtual hugs! (Shuddup, I'm broke.)**

* * *

After a week of peace, we weren't expecting an attack.

It happens anyway.

An arrow digs itself on the ground beside Mercury. A scream pierces the afternoon sky. No, not a scream. A battle cry.

It came from above us. Adrenaline already pumping in my blood, my eyes search for the attackers. There were four boys our age. They're wearing white identical suits and they were brandishing cross-bows. Not regular, wooden cross-bows, but a mechanical one, pulsing with lights, buttons and gizmos.

Peacekeepers.

Mercury gasps. He grabs his plain bow and arrows and tries to shoot one of them down. The targeted Peacekeeper deflected the arrow with his crossbow and shoots at me. I duck and it misses. I grab Marlin's shoulder and wrench him deeper into the forests, for once glad to have the cover around me. I realize that Marlin and I are seperated from Mercury and Zee. It's too late to worry about them. I grab a knife and look around, trying to hear for footsteps or disturbances among leaves. I don't hear a thing. It's unnaturally quiet. Even the birds have stopped singing.

"Something isn't right," I mutter.

Then, right behind me, I hear a blood-chilling scream. I whirl around and a flash of white bursts out behind a tree. I stumble back and push Marlin to the other side of the clearing. I run the opposite way.

"Split up!" I yell to him.

If I thought hiking through the forests was bad, running makes it seem like a walk in the park. The branches come at me more fiercely and there seems to be more roots in the ground. I charge blindly through the trees, to just get away. My worn-out shoe connects with a fallen trunk and my momentum sends me several feet away, landing on my face in a pile of dry autumn leaves.

I stay there for a while, sure that the Peacekeeper is about to pounce on me. After a few seconds of lying there, I come to the conclusion that I'm probably safe. I stand on my knees, groping for the knife I dropped when I fell. I feel something cold and metallic under the leaves and lift my knife up.

Once again, I'm thinking that I may be safe but the others might not be.

My eyes widen in horror as I imagine Marlin on a hovercraft, face bruised and arms tied behind his back. I've got to contribute to the fight.

A surge of purpose sends me to my feet. Running. Dodging. Yelling. All this makes me ignore my throbbing toe, my cuts and my fears. When I saw a white uniform, my vision suddenly narrows down, the edges blurring and the uniform getting sharper and sharper.

I'm the predator now.

I grip my knife more tightly as I stalk the uniform, careful not to make any leaves rustle. When I'm within leaping distance of the Peacekeeper, I jump, releasing a string of insults on the way.

Fortunately, the Peacekeeper was caught in surprise. I land on his back and wrap my arms around his shoulders, holding on like a matador. He's the bull. Unfortunately, he has lighting-quick reflexes. He drops his crossbow and backs up. He slams me against a tree. Hard.

I release him in surprise as I gasp for air. He spins around and instead of retrieving the crossbow, he attacks me with his bare hands. He grabs my shoulders and his right hand rears back for a killing punch. I wriggle out of his reach, his fist missing me and hitting the tree. I roll away from his arms and run, glad to still be holding the knife.

Okay, status of current rescue attempt: failing.

I run again, zipping around the trees to lose him. He's still behind me. I turn back and he has reaquired his crossbow. He's shooting.

He's shooting!

I duck behind another tree and actually heard the scream of the arrow passing by. This continues for about a minute until I get to a cliff wall.

I run my hands quickly along the wall to find some kind of a grasp in the rocks. It's too slippery and even if I could find it, the Peacekeeper has a cross-bow and he'll shoot me down. Then, I feel my wrist getting held in place by someone's arm.

"Drop it," he breathes in my ear.

He's holding the hand where I'm holding my knife. Hesistantly, I drop it. It falls without a noise. Then, he viciously twists my arm behind my back, wringing tears out of me.

"Stop it!" I cry pathetically. "You're hurting me!"

"No duh." Though he spins me around and releases the tension in my arm. He pushes my shoulder back and pins me against the rocky surface.

The sun's facing me and I can only make out a sillhouette of the person in front of me. My attacker is only slightly taller than me and has dark skin. His hair is also dark but slightly cropped. He can't be _that_ much older than me. What's he doing as Peacekeeper?

His lips curve upward and his eyes twinkle mischeviously. He has a boyish face and for a second, I thought he was...

"Horus?" I croak.

"Hey Roobie."

My jaw drops open. It's odd seeing Horus wearing the white uniform which I've distinguished as the mark of an enemy.

"Surprised?" he laughs.

I'm speechless. Horus decides to fill in the blanks.

"Turns out, they didn't want to kill me after all," he explains excitedly. "They just stuck some needles in me and gave me this neat new suit. That's not all." His face suddenly becomes serious. "I've changed. I'm... happy."

I finally snap out of my stupor. Happier? What does he mean? "Horus, we all thought that you were dead. You would not believe how Marlin was acting when you were gone. We can all go to New Brooklyn now. Just, let me go?"

Horus frowns at me. "I'm afraid I can't do that. They wouldn't be too excited if I left."

"Who's 'they'?

"The Capitol, of course." He looks shocked.

"Since when do you care what the Capitol says?"

Horus pauses for a while, uncertain. "Since they stuck those needles to me."

Something's terribly with him. Then I remember, what Captain Smilodon told me, all those weeks ago in District 13.

_There's a vile poison that the Capitol uses. It's barely humane. Some say it's not humane at all. Apply it to a person, you get someone willing to die for you, or you can twist your memories into something terribly different._

"Horus, I think they gave you tracker jacker poison."

"I don't believe in you," his voice turns a fraction lower and he grabs my shoulders tighter. His eyes gleam with unnatural light. "Why should I, convict? I'm not even supposed to be talking to you."

"No," I say desperately. "I'm Rooba, remember? We're friends, Horus. I-I wouldn't lie to you."

"Stop calling me Horus. I'm Orville. And we're not friends. I'm just here to arrest you." Horus/Orville brings me hands together and out of nowhere, he produces a pair of metal cuffs that look like gloves and fastens them on to my hands.

"No, I don't think so. You're our friend! Remember? We were going to go to New Brooklyn together! We were going to escape District 13! Remember when we fought those lycanthropes? Just try to remember, Horus!" A note of hysteria enters me voice.

For a while, Horus/Orville did a kind of spasm, an odd jerk in his face. His expression us happy, angry and sad at the same time. For a while, he was just plain Horus. When he stops, he says, "Come on." And drags me away back into the forest.

"Horus," I whisper. "What have they done to you?"

He stays silent.

I cuss him out.

He growls, but doesn't say a word.

Then, out of nowhere, someone yells, "Horus?"

Horus/Orville turns, forcing me to do so too. It's Mercury and he's got a completely bewildered look on his face.

Horus/Orville sneers. "Why do you people call me Horus? I'm Orville, for crying out loud." His head turns to his shoulder and mutters, "Bruno? Thistles? Backup, please. Got another Flying Color."

There's those words again. Flying Color. I'm confused and then see a bit of metal poking out of his white suit.

"Mercury! Run! He's got a walkie talkie!" I scream.

Mercury backs away uncertainly until I show him my cuffs. He whirls around and starts stumbling away, getting his foot stuck on a root. Then, another white suit leaps out from behind the trees and tackles Mercury. He hits the ground hard and they wrestle on the floor, Mercury's sword useless. Horus/Orville pulls me along faster.

That's it. I'm sick of playing victim.

I wish I got Zee's steel toed boots but for now, my hiking boots will have to do. I loop my arms around Horus/Orville and drag him down. I wrestle him to the ground and end up on top of his back. I'm pinning Horus/Orville to the ground and hiss in his ears, "Where's the cuffs' keys?"

"You honestly think I'm going to tell you?" he says mockingly.

I growl in frustration. I smack my metal cuffs against his head and stuns him. I quickly get up and run. I don't care if I had hurt him or not. That's not Horus.

I run until I'm breathless. It's hard running with cuffs. I'm completely lost. I crawl under a bush for cover and try to get out me walkie talkie. It's still in my belt and I can't get it out with my cuffed hands. It's too far for me to bite it and pull it out. I look around for a stick and find one. Hoping I won't find bugs, I bite the end of it and use it as a lever to push the walkie talkie out.

It pops out and I lay it in front of me. I use the stick again to push the 'call' button and whisper, "Zee? Marlin? Mercury? You guys listening?"

I wait impatiently for someone to pick up, or to say something. All I hear is static. Despair washes over me until someone says, "Rooba? This is Zee. I hear you. Where are you?"

I scramble to get the stick and press the 'call' button again. "Zee, this is Rooba. Not sure where I am. Under bushes. Peacekeeper got me but I escaped. Still got my cuffs on. Where are you?"

There's a pause. "Rooba, this is Zee. Are you okay? I'm on some cliff walls. I see your knife. Did you drop it? Can you get back here?"

A small flame of hope glows inside of me. "Zee, this is Rooba. I'm okay. I think I can make it there. Do you know where Mercury and Marlin is?"

A small cackle of static. "Rooba, this is Zee. Sorry. Didn't see them."

I sigh but get up and try to retrace my steps. It's harder than it looks because the trees all look the same. Add that to the fear of getting caught and the heavy weight of your backpack and the cuffs and you get paranoia.

In the end, though I find my way back into he rocky cliffs. Zee is waiting there, knives out and under some rocky outcropping.

"Rooba!" she shouts, pulling me into a hug. She looks at my cuffs. "Let's see if I can break this."

Joy. She loves destroying stuff. She pulled me into a relatively straight rock surface and cackles like a mad scientist. "This probably won't hurt!"

She draws her biggest knife and slashes down, grinning. After the clash, Zee only makes a dent. She does this several times and only succeeds in making the dent slightly bigger.

"Okay, this is harder than I thought," she mutters to herself.

She abandons the knife and gets her spear out. She bangs on it when the spear is still in rod form. She makes a few marks but not enough to get it to open. She retracts the spear and backs away, holding the spear over her.

"Are you sure?" I ask timidly.

"No," she confesses.

Before I say anything else, she leaps in the air and brings the spear down hard. It makes a comical cylinder depression on the metal. She does this several more times and my cuffs are flattened to one side.

"Fire!" she shouts. "Eureka! Fire melts metal, right?"

"Yeah, if you can do that without setting me on fire, that would work."

"I know it will!"

She takes me behind the rock outcropping and starts a fire. She puts my damp towel that she soaked with my precious store of water, over my unprotected arm. When the fire reaches a considerable height, she takes a big bundle of sticks and thrusts it on the fire. As it catches fire, she holds it over my cuffed hands.

"Ready?" she whispers.

I gulp. "Ready as I'll ever be."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Lo! The holiday is near and so are faster updates! Expect more updates soon, and probably a rise in quality (I hope).**


	13. The Lizard

The fire envelops my hands. Without knowing it, I start sweating. At first, it's just warm. A ticklish sensation. Then, it starts heating up, getting uncomfortable. Then, it's a total inferno.

I grit my teeth. "Is it working?"

"Yes!" Zee says excitedly. "It's melting right off! Are you okay, though?"

I nod, the fire muting me. "Keep burning."

After a few seconds, she says, "Hang in there. Just a minute."

Then, it feels like my hand is blistering and opening up. I wince and sharply pull my hands away from the fire, blowing on it. "Darn. Sorry, Zee. I just couldn't stand it."

I know that we had failed and I can't bear to see Zee's disapointed face so I turn away. My cuffs are reduced to ash and is blackened, yet it's still hanging on stubbornly to my hands. Frustratedly, I bang it on the ground.

"Why... won't... you... bloody... open!" I punctuate every word with a bang and am reduced to swearing.

On the last bang, I hear a crack. At first, I thought that it was my bones, but then my cuffs falls, revealing pink, ashy hands.

"Will you look at that," I say, amazed. "It worked." I wriggle my fingers in front of Zee.

"Happy to be of service."

We spend the next few minutes trying to get the walkie talkie to work.

"Hello? Anyone there?"

Static emits from the speakers.

"Yo. Earth to Marlin and Mercury. You there?"

Screeches.

"If you don't pick up, I swear we're going to make the trip the worst ones in your life!" Zee says, though she sounds worried.

Nothing.

Zee turns to me, depair in her watery eyes. "Do you think they're gone?"

I gulp, my shoulders slumped. "We just have to pray they aren't. Let's keep trying." I grab the walkie talkie and just hiss their names at it. "Marlin, Mercury, Marlin, Mercury, Marlin, Mercury..."

Suddenly, the walkie talkie breaks my chant with distorted voices. "Hey... Roo... Zee we're... tree... Come quickly!"

Zee jumps to it and says, "Hello? Zee and Rooba here. We hear you. Please repeat."

We listen. It beeps again. "Go... mountain... we see you... climb up!"

"Climb where? What mountain?"

"... up! Look up!"

We look. The sun blinds me for a while, but when they focus, I see two figures up waving at us. I wave back. They're alive! They gesture for us to go up but it's a long way to the top. We'd better start now.

"Here," Zee says. "This part's rocky. After you?" She smirks.

I give her a face and plant my foot in a steady-looking rock. It fell off. "Huh," I mutter.

"Test the rocks first, dummy!" Once again, Captain Obvious strikes again.

"What does it look like, nimrod?" I call up, laughing. I guess I'm just too relieved that they were still alive. "I _am_ testing it out!"

I look around some more and grab a tough root. I pull on it and it stays strong. The root hangs about a quarter of the journey up the cliff. I decide to use it. Bracing my feet on the walls, I twist my wrist around the root and start climbing. Half-way up the root, my arms are starting to feel wobbly. Zee's right behind me and she's already sweating too. When I reach the top of the root, I extend my right arm and brush it over the wall. It touches a rock with a grip on it. I carefully put my feet on a ledge and on the count of three, I let of the rope. I wobble a bit but don't fall off. Breathing a sigh of relief, I start to climb higher when I hear a 'twang'. It's the root.

"Zee! The root's coming out!" I warn her.

She starts to find handholds on the cliff and I grit my teeth. She finds it quickly and the root fell off a few seconds later, tumbling into the forest ground.

Which looks so far away.

I gulp, fighting off vertigo. I concentrate on the rock in front of me. We were making such painstaking progress, it was a miracle the Peacekeepers didn't see us. I grab another handhold and touch something slimy. Taking my hand off the wall quickly, and adding strain to my other side, I watch in horror as a pink-and-black lizard attaches itself in my index finger.

"Oh. My. Freaking. Turtle." I scream and my hand spasms as if it has a mind of its own, trying desperately to rid itself of the horrible creature. It's sticky paws finally let go and I stay there, still paralyzed in fear. Then, Zee inhales sharply.

"Dude. Tell me the lizard didn't land on my hair."

I look down and on Zee's brown hair, there's something wet and slimy that resembles a dirty bubblegum. I gulp. "Just... swipe your hand above your head and hit it."

She doesn't look at me. She's as still as a statue. "It's there, isn't it?"

"Umm... yes. Just swat it away," I say.

"I'm not going to freaking squash it! What if it explodes and blood or pus or whatever is inside a lizard pours down my head?" Her voice climbs higher and higher, slightly hysterical.

"No, you just swipe it over your head... n-no need to kill it," I say, apprehensive.

Zee breathes in quick, shallow breaths and lifts her hand from a rock and brushes the lizard off in one panicky movement.

Only it didn't fall off. It happened like this:

The lizard sticks on Zee's hand and as her hand flies up in disgust, the lizard lets go and flies straight at me.

Well, not at me. But pretty close. It flies up next my face, practically on my nose, and for the few moments it's suspended in the air, it faces me with its beady eyes as if saying_, 'I'm watching you,' _before falling to the ground for god.

The next few seconds are a blur of screaming. I hear Zee screaming too. We're scarred for life. When I run out of breath I start climbing up again. This time, I test every stone carefully, looking at each dark hole for any signs of disturbances.

When I finally reach the top, Mercury and Horus is on the ground, laughing.

"D-didja see the look on their faces?" Marlin blurted out to Mercury, who has tears in his eyes.

"That... was... awesome!" Mercury cried out, clutching his side.

I pull Zee up next to me and I march up to Mercury. "Funny." I smack his shoulder but it doesn't affect him. I look up to Marlin and glare at him. "Rocks."

Marlin tries to stifle his laughter but is turning purple in the process. I kick dirt on them and raise my hands in the air with frustration as I hear Zee mumble, "Boys."


	14. The Book

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry it took me a while. I know it's summer but I'm just soooo lazy. :P Enjoy and savor it. My laziness will probably delay oncoming chapters. But it helps if your review, you know what I'm saying? Bwahahahah!**

* * *

We spend another week in the forests. I'm not sure where we are right now but Mercury says we're probably in some place called Pennsylvania, close to Dead York, which is close to New Brooklyn. From the place where we encountered the Peacekeepers, we have had three river baths. Currently, I stink like crap.

"Waaatteerrrrr..." Marlin mumbles.

I hand Marlin my water bottle. "All you have to do is ask."

He sips the water. "Fooooooooooooood."

I toss him some berries I found along the last river.

He munches on them. "Carry meeeeeee."

"No."

"But I'm tireeeeed."

"Don't care."

"Roooooooobaaa!" he whines with indigation.

"Whaaaatever," I mimic him. He grunts and then I hear a thud. I turn around and see him sprawled in the ground, twitching. "Marlin?"

"Bleh."

"Okay. If you need me, I'll be with Zee." I pick up my pace and insert myself between Mercury and Zee. "Hey dudes."

"Umm... hi," Mercury says. "Where's Marlin?"

"He's going through something right now. Don't ask." I look at Zee. "What's up?"

And thus insues an awkward conversation about ostriches, a weird animal I've never heard about, Mercury explaining everything.

I keep an ear open to the conversation but other than that, I just take in the surroundings. The forest is steadily changing. What used to be the thick canopy of leaves overhead turns into the bare blue sky. The trees isn't as clumped together as they were and the leaves turns less and less dense. The grass turns yellow and the ground hardens. Suddenly, we're walking on hard black stuff.

"The heck...? Asphalt?" I mumble.

Everyone looks at the ground. "Asphalt," Mercury confirms. "We must be close to the city."

He picks up his pace and Marlin suddenly appears and says, "A city? You mean, a district."

"No, I think he means a city. A dead one. From the old days," I say.

"Cool!"

We follow Mercury through the cracked asphalt. Moss is growing through the cracks and chipped orange paint forms rectangles in the middle of the misshappen road. After a few meters, we see our first lamp post. Even though it has mysterious burn marks and holes in the structure, it's still standing. Marlin tries to climb it but I sternly pull him back. Then, we see a wooden bench. Half of it is just rubble. We turn a corner and see our first shop. I guess we're still in the suburbs. It has a metal sign that says, Wall-Mart. Huh. Maybe language evolved over the years.

I'm just about to walk past it when Mercury grabs my shoulder. "Wait. We can get supplies here."

I'm skeptical, but go along with it. Mercury pushes the glass door. It doesn't budge. He grabs a fallen brick and shatters the glass. He kicks away the rest of the glass. We duck to enter and Zee says, "You know, Mercury? There's a sign that says, push."

Mercury turns red and says. "Whatever."

I giggle and slide into the hole and step into water.

Well, I don't think it even qualifies as water. More like muck. Or liquified mud. Or maybe bat urine. It doesn't stink, though, making me wonder what kind of sick twisted liquid can look like this but smell nothing like how it looks. "Ick," I groan.

We slog through the isles. Mercury orders us to seperate and I get sent to the book isle. I don't know what good books do but I read some of the titles.

_The Book Theif._

_Artemis Fowl._

_39 Clues._

_Harry Potter._

_Percy Jackson and the Olympians._

_The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe._

_I am Number Four._

None seems interesting until I stumble across a small beige-colored book titled, _The Five People You Meet in Heaven_.

In the middle of the cover, there's an interesting contraption that looks like a wheel. It's damp and some of the pages stick together, but other than that, it looks completely new. My muddy fingers make prints on the cover so I slip it in my bag to keep it safe. I make a mental note to ask Mercury what the thing is in the cover. Right now, I'm finding 'supplies'.

After I finish with the isle, I turn the corner and find kitchen supplies. Ah, yes. Wonderfully metallic and pointy things. I run, or at least wade, to the knife section and find it all blunt and rusted with age. The sharpest thing I can find is a butter knife. But, I pocket a small pan. We can use it to cook things, I guess. That's it. I finally move to 'the meeting point' which is in the middle of the shop. I'm the first on to arrive so now, I'm just standing there, water coming up to my thighs. Wet. Sopping. Unhappy. Standing there with a pan, like a fool. After a few minutes, I move to the nearest thing above the water, a cashier thing, climb and sit on it. I take off my boots and ooze went out of it. I grimace and put it back on my foot. I'll do it in a later date.

I wait until Zee appears hands full with canned items. "Hit the motherload!" she says cheerfully.

"Sweet," I say. I pull her up to my perch and we examine the lables. Most of them is for soup.

Then, Marlin appears, waist deep in the water. He has a shopping bag full of flammable objects. There's lighters, oil and hairspray. We have to lose the oil because it's too heavy but setting fire to the hairspray is enough. Finally, Mercury appears. He carries a bottle of fly spray.

"Poison." He grins evilly.

We exit the scene without drama. We step out into the sunlight and didn't stop walking until we reach the city.

"Holy cracker." I'm speechless.

There's towers and buildings that touches the sky. The asphalt road breaks into a billion different paths. The buildings have broken windows and even though its getting dark out, there's no light inside. Plants and fungi are growing on the walls of the towers. The streets are full of rubble. There's rock, glass, twigs and everything else. Parts of the city is flooded. Even though it's messed up, it still pertains a sort of grandness. A thousand people can fit here.

Mercury is the only one that isn't stunned. "This is an ancient city. Before the Districts. Come on."

He snaps us out from our daze and directs us to a building that says _Jasmine Tower Apartment_.

The lobby is a mess. Columns have fallen and there's holes in the wall. There's an elevator like the ones in District 13 but obviously, it isn't working. We take the stairs and in about the fifth floor, we break down the doors to an apartment. It's quite messy and there's magazines and cans of soda along the floor but its dry. Marlin swipes a muddy arm over the magazines on the flea-bitten sofa and parks his butt on it. "Comfy."

Since all of us are too scared to sleep in different rooms, Zee retires in a recliner that she lowers and Mercury grabs some pillows and sleeps on the ground. Meanwhile, I volunteer to take first watch. After a bit of searching, we a barrel in the hall outside and pack some paintings off the wall, spray it with hairspray and light it on fire. A great big fireball explodes. I grab an uncomfortable stool and sit next to the fire. As everyone drifts to sleep, I cautiously open my bag and grab my soiled book. I open the first page.

The first page is titled, _The End_.

Then, it went on like this:

_This is a story about a man named Eddie and it begins in the end, with Eddie dying in the sun. It might seem strange to start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginings. We just don't know it at the time._

I turned a page and kept on reading.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Yes, The Five People You Meet In Heaven is a real book. It's by a dude called Mitch Albom and its super-mega-ultra awesome. Read it sometimes.**

**Sorry if you hate me putting a book in here. A book within a book? Sorry, but it will fit in with... later... events. (Muahahahaha!)**

**I don't own Wall-Mart, Pennsylvania or any book mentioned above. I'm just a fan of them!**


	15. The Reward

**Author's Note:**

**Back! I just wanted to say thanks to every reviewer, from the first chapter to this chapter! I would've died if you hadn't reviewed. (Or maybe just become comatose. He he.) Read on!**

* * *

The night is cold so I unearth a towel from my backpack and use it as a scarf. I had used it after the swim in the store so its dirty, though already relatively dry.

The apartment is spooky, the fire we built being the only source of light. The flickering flames make distorted shadows on the ancient furniture and everything is quiet. I'm used to the sounds of the forest but in the deserted city, all is silent.

I channel all focus to the book I'm reading. It's not hard. The book is really interesting. Although the book mentions a lot of things I don't understand, (What the heck is a roller coaster or a pier? What kind of people eat Candy Floss? What kind of name is Eddie?) I can forsee that it's about humans. People's morals and what they think will happen when we die. It's not too far off to how we think now.

I'm a slow reader but from my little late-night reading session, the story is about a man who works in some kind of place where kids have fun. They called it an amusement park. He's old and there was an accident in which he dies. He goes on an adventure to the afterlife and feels like a boy again. Then, he meets a man whoose skin is blue. That's about as far as I've read.

"Hey" Mercury taps my shoulder, making me give a start. "Sorry. My turn as a lookout."

My eyes have trouble focusing on Mercury's face. I nod, my mouth feeling like sand. I shut the book and Mercury asks, "What are you doing?"

I force words through my dry throat and whisper, "Reading. Found it in that building. Can you tell me what this thing is?"

I show him the cover of the book and point to the wheel thing. Mercury squints at it. "That's a ferris wheel. In the old times, people used to sit in those... benches, I guess you could call it, and the wheel spins around. They say its great fun."

I imagine people sitting down on the edges of the wheel, slowly being rotated up and down. It all seems silly to me but then I imagine I'm on the top seat looking down at the earth. Makes me feel... impowered somehow.

Whatever.

I slip the book inside my jacket and curl up on the floor. I hear Mercury humming a cheerful melody.

Without opening my eyes, my fist lashes out and hits him. "Shut up," I mumble, though my slurred words sounded more like, 'Shunudup."

I don't have to look to imagine Mercury smirking. But he shut his trap so I don't really care.

I curl up in a tighter ball but for some reason, can't fall asleep, even though my legs are numb with exhaustion. I try to count turtles. I count the green things until there are about 500 of them but I'm still asleep. I consider grabbing my book again and reading until I fall asleep but Mercury will scold me to no end so I feign sleep.

And think of turtles.

I stay in a doze when the armchair in the corner and the occupant groans. Opening my eyes to slits, I see in my periphal vision Zee stretching up on her makeshift, black hair messy from sleep, and Mercury standing up and walking over to her.

"Hey," he says in a quiet voice.

"Hi," she says in a sleepy tone. "My turn for lookout yet?"

Mercury shakes his head. "I just replaced Rooba."

"Oh. I just can't sleep." That makes two of us.

There's a pregnant pause.

"Can I ask you something?" Zee asks.

"You just did." He smiles as Zee rolls her eyes. "But you can ask another one." Mercury pulls up a footrest up and sits on it.

"The war's coming soon, or at least that's what President Coin said. Who do you think will win? The Capitol or the rebels?"

Mercury thinks about it for a while. Then he shrugs. "Beats me. I'm not a politics kind of guy."

"Same. But who do you really think will win the war, though?"

Mercury runs his hand through his brown hair and says, "In my honest opinion, if there isn't some sort of miracle, the Capitol would win."

Zee leans back as she processes the information.

It's hard. It's hard to be fighting for a losing team. And in wars, the losing team will most likely die. Usually the leader first. My mom's the leader.

Not that I care. A lot.

Zee leans forward again and says, "Yeah. Me too."

I feel a stab of dissapointment. Apparently, some dark side of me feels resentful that I'm reminded that I was fighting a losing battle.

After all, I'm 15, and they recruit 16-year-old soldiers.

Then Zee says, "What about New Brooklyn? Do they have their own wars?"

"Not that I know of," Mercury says. "But our government takes extra measures to ensure safety and command the discipline and loyalty of everyone. Namely, the Evacuators. The President made sure to keep our reputation as the only safe haven out of Panem. Not that it's untrue."

Zee nods. "And what do the Evacuators get after they return home?"

"Well, glory." Mercury replies as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "Zee, the whole point of the Evacuation is to prove your worth and strength. If you fail, you're weak. If you're weak, you're useless. If you're useless, they kick you out."

Zee stares at him disbelievingly. "That's it? I mean, you face death, Peacekeepers, whiny boys like Marlin,-" Truth! "- flooded stores and lycanthropes, run into a warring country, probably become traumatic and go on an adventure around the world and your reward is the government _not_ kicking you out?"

"Well, when you put it like that, that does sound bad. But at least we had some laughs, right?"

Zee laughs in laughter. "I guess. But if there's anything I can do for you, I'm happy to oblige. Saving our lives and all."

"Well actually, there's this one thing..." His voice trails off and he leans in to whisper in Zee's ear.

Zee suddenly blushes and bites her lip. She flinches away from Mercury and says, "You mean it?"

Mercury also turns red but keeps a smirk. His dull blue eyes suddenly looks piercing and sharp. "Did I tell you today was my birthday too?" he says unconvincingly.

Zee relaxes slightly and says, "Liar." She drops her gaze.

Mercury leans back. "It's okay, Zee. You don't have to." He sounds hurt.

Zee shakes her head and leans even more forward. "I didn't mean it like that." She suddenly grabs Mercury by the his jacket and pulls him closer. "Happy birthday."

"Wh-wha-" Mercury's stuttered reply is cut off by Zee's lips.

It's not just a peck on the mouth. Immediately, Mercury's arms twine around Zee and he kisses her back.

I can feel the powerful emotions radiating through them. From Zee, I sense fear, anticipation and apprehension but also curiosity and a lot of mixed emotions. What is that all about?

I feel uncomfortable for a moment. Like I'm intruding on something very private.

Then, it hit me. I am.

I shut my eyes and open them when they start talking again. A full three seconds.

Mercury mumbles something incoherent and Zee looks horrified.

"Ah," she starts. "I feel sleepy. Yawn." She heaves her feet on the armchair and hides behind a blanket she found in one of the rooms.

Mercury sighs and says, "Good night, Zee."

He stands and walks over to the dying fire and feeds it a few more dry logs of wood. He sits down against Marlin's couch and stares at the flames blankly. It's going to be a long night.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Gah! This chapter was so hard to write! I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY!**

**Chapter 16: Coming Soon.**


	16. The Number

**Author's Note: **

**Sorry for the delay. I had... you guessed it. Writer's Block. But here it is! In all of its black and white glory!**

* * *

The next day, we wake up early to pack our bags and head to the city. In the day, it doesn't looks as creepy but you never know what might be hiding behind the harsh metal jungle.

We stick to the biggest road and try to navigate through the ruins. Occasionally, there are cats or dogs that cross our path but they never stay long. Marlin had apprehended a dog he named Blackie, for its dark fur, but it escaped him. Oh well.

The streets are filled with potholes and rusted cans. It isn't a view, but at least we have out bearings. Without thinking, I end up walking next to Mercury.

"Good morning!" I say cheerfully.

"Hey," Mercury replies, ever so coolly.

"Fine weather."

"Nice line," he says mockingly.

I resist the urge to stick my tongue out at him but fails. He laughs. "Not that there's anything wrong with pointing out the wonderful weather."

I playfully scowl at his sarcasm.

We walk for a bit without walking. In that short time, I realize Marlin's trying to get Zee to play his silly game. And that Zee is ignoring him and everyone else. She's just staring at the ground and sometimes at the buildings, sometimes scowling at Marlin.

I decide to ask Mercury about... last night's events. Without sounding like a total eavesdropper. "What's up with Zee?"

Unfortunately, this is as unsuspicious I can make my question.

He glances back at Zee, then back at me. "Dunno."

And that was that.

Attempt number two. "Anything happen last night?"

That gets him a bit suspicious. "No." He pauses. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, last night, I had a hard time sleeping and so I was still kinda awake."

Another pause. "Go on."

I take a deep breath. "I heard you talking. What was that about?"

Then he faces me and stares into my green eyes with his penetrating blue ones. "What did you hear?" His voice is menacing and has a bit of a growl to it.

You know what they say: Never tickle a sleeping lion.

Oops.

"Ah..." I choke out. "Stuff. Nothing. Not quite sure. I was dozing." His features sharpen as he tries to detect a lie. "Just curious," I add quickly.

Then his eyes widen. "Did you see...?"

Ah, hell. "Uh, yep."

Then he glances back at Zee, then back to the front. "I'm going to let you suffer a painful death, Coin."

I laugh. "I'd like to see you try, Mercury." I hate that I can't remember his last name. Aero-something. I've only heard it once. I make a mental note to ask Marlin or Zee.

"But," he continued. "Since you're a girl and girls seem to know about these things, why do you think Zee won't talk to me?"

"Sexist pig," I say. "Why should I know anything about this?"

Mercury shrugs. "Imagine me asking Marlin."

"Point taken."

Just then, I hear a shout. "Hey! What are you kids doing here?"

I turn around and Mercury pulled my shoulders to the front again. "Don't look back. Pretend you didn't hear."

Mercury pulls back and whispered the same thing to Marlin and Zee. I gulp and pick up my pace.

_Walk_, I tell myself. _Just walk. We're just walking down the hallway to your next class. Don't look back._

My blood turns cold. What if it's Horus? And his Flying Colors crew? Before Mercury turns me around, I had caught a glimpse of something in their armss. Something that looked suspisiously like a gun. They must have better weapons now. They can shoot bullets through us now if they can. We can only hope that their curiosity will hold out.

But what kinds of kids call other kids, well, kids? And the voice sounds like a grown man's. And they aren't wearing a white uniform, only grey suits. Who are they?

Walk. Concentrate on walking.

"Hey! Stop!"

I risk a glance backwards. They're running to us. They're wearing a grey army suit. Their grey hard hats shadow their faces and their boots look deadly. Their belts are full of knives and weapons.

And you know what the worst thing is?

On all of their chests and shoulders is a single, white number. 13.

And they're running to us.

They're. Freaking. Running. To. Us.

_Walk._

Oh, shut up!

"I said, stop!" the leader bellows.

And that's when we hear the first gunshot.

It misses and Mercury finally yells, "RUN!" As if we need to be told.

My legs are pumping hard. We dive to a nearby alley and start winding our way through the buildings. I might've screamed once or twice, but the sound just rips from my throat because of the breakneck speed we're running in. And if it could be heard, it would probably sound like this:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Yeah, typical. Just throwing it in there.

Then, a Thirteen soldier releases another bullet. I turn back just in time to see it ripping through the air to me. Time seems to go slowly and I try to dodge it.

But it's too late.

I shout as it embeds itself in my left arm. My mind just goes blank. It's nothing but my pain and screaming, mostly from me. Oh wait, that's not all.

There's a bit of swearing too.

Then I hear my name being shouted, but it seems a million years away. There's someone pulling me up and pushing me back to a run.

My arm's throbbing. As it should. Now everything I felt before, the tiredness and the fear, is all wiped away.

When the pain has subsided enough to let me be able to open my eyes, I'm greeted by a terrifying sight.

There's a hole in my jacket. And my whole sleeve is wet with fresh blood, the color of my hair. I suck in a deep breath. No time to linger on that now. We've got soldiers to outrun. It's probably just a scratch. They say that wounds sometimes bleed a lot, but they're not that bad.

_RUN YOU SISSY!_

Ouch. That hurt, mind.

Well. I've gone completely mad.

And so I run. My watery vision begins to clear and I can see Marlin with his hand on my uninjured arm and Zee and Mercury not far ahead. It's fine. I've got great friends and an awesome brother. I'll make it.

That's when a tall brick wall ruins the thought.

Zee, who is leading, skids to a stop and nearly crashes with the wall. She stands there completely astonished. Then she turns around and scans the walls. She points to a side. "There's a door. We could hide..."

Enter Thirteen soldiers.

"Hey!" the leader says. He's a real tall guy with a shaven face and blonde cropped hair. I force myself not to look at the Thirteen logo. My heart starts hammering like mad. We're so close to New Brooklyn! I can't go back!

His gun looks menacing. What is that? An AR-15? An A1A1? If it's self-loading, we'd be in real trouble. But I think we can survive longer if its a sharpshooter rifle, with this close distance. Not that it matters. We'll die anyway. All the Smilodon training kicks in and I have to strain to concentrate.

He gives his troop, about ten also tall and buff men, a hand signal that I translate to be, _wait and check the perimeter and yadayada military things._

He keeps his helmet on but when he comes closer, I can see his clear blue eyes staring at us from his ashen face. He has freckles, like me, but the way he's sporting them is more... I don't know. Manly?

I can tell he's not originally from Thirteen. Thirteen people have an elegant nose and tight pale skin. The majority isn't tall and their eyes are dull or dark, like Mercury's. Their hair is often stick straight and slightly straw colored. Their features are sharper, not broad, like Flyer's. They resemble rats (and I mean that in the least insulting way) and maybe this is because they spent so much time underground. This guy is more of an overmusculed sea bass.

And his eyes are as blue as the ocean. And they say that everyone in District Four has blue eyes because they spent so much time looking at the sea that their souls become just like the sea. Easily angered and moody. Just like this fellow.

I end my rant here.

The man is just a foot step away from us when he looks at me and narrows his eyes. "I know you." Those words send a chill to my spine.

"Really?" I say in a hopefully cool voice. "Have we met? 'Cause I don't recall seeing you."

And that's when he closes the distance between us and grabs my throat. A bullet in my arm and this ape is suffocating me? I don't think so.

"Coin? Can this be the Rooba Coin?" I glances back at his fellow primates and smiles. "Hey, mates! We're cashing in today! This here's Coin's little girl!"

I swear at him and bite his beefy and scarred fist. He lets go and spit in his direction in the toughest way I can. But truthfully?

That's soooooo gross.

But instead of looking angry, the soldier smiles. "Fiesty little tiger, aren't you?" I give him the most menacing glare I've ever made. He ignores me and scans our faces. His face lights up with recognition as he sees Marlin. Then his eyes flash with greed. He chuckles evilly to himself.

"Muahahahhahahaha!"

Ok, he didn't say that, but I can imagine horns growing on his head and his gun changing into a red pitchfork.

My arm tingles and I instinctively grab it, hoping to stub the blood flow. The man sees me and makes a stupid pouty face.

"Boo-boo?" He then raises a pair or cuffs, one for me and one for Marlin.

The other men comes closer and I can feel the sense of claustrophobia heightening.

One of them, who is directly behind the leader says, "Boss, what are we going to do with the other two?"

The Boss just waves his free hand. "I haven't the faintest idea who they are. Kill them."

As soon as he says the word 'kill', Zee touches the hilt of her fighting knife. She lashes out to The Boss and aims right in his stomach.

The Boss apparently has killer reflexes. He bats the knife away with his gun and uses the barrel of the gun to smack Zee right on her cheek. She falls to the ground, clutching her head, and I hear another gunshot.

"Hey!"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Cliffhanger. Bwahahahahaa!**

**Love the reviews!**


	17. The Crossfire

**Author's Note: **

**Not so proud with this story. If this isn't a filler chapter, I don't know what is. But it's key to going to the next chapter, where more significant things will happen.**

**So read on. Feel free to flame or give concrit on this chappie. Actually I hated it. :P**

* * *

I brace myself for blood.

Wait, there's always blood.

Why would I even need to brace for it?

I've had more fights out of Panem than I did in the training mat with Smilodon.

Quite a couple of them, I've won.

I've won others by dumb luck.

The ones I've lost didn't kill me.

What makes this one diferent?

Oh wait.

There's a bullet in my best friend.

Well, that's unfortunate.

My eyes are squeezed closed so tightly together that not even a sledgehammer can open them. After the initial gunshot, it becomes eerily quiet. Suddenly, I hear the 'bangs' and the 'zooms' of multiple bullets being shot.

We're stuck in a crossfire.

I instinctively hit the ground for cover, and judging by the other thuds, my friends have done the same.

Or maybe its just their lifeless bodies falling.

I open my eyelids to just a crack and see Marlin blinking rapidly. Thankfully, the bullets aren't headed for us. I reach out to squeeze Marlin's hand and craned my neck towards the Thirteen soldiers.

Some are on the ground, wirthing like snakes. Others take cover behind dumpsters, trashcans and anything they can find. They are shooting above us.

Clutching my bullet-proof vest as tightly as I can I roll to my back.

I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I can't help myself.

I mean, who else is trying to kill us?

It's Hijacked Horus and his band.

Talk about persistence.

I feel my sleeve getting wetter and wetter. Forcing myself to look beyond, I see Zee with a swollen cheek and Mercury doing the army crawl.

LOL.

Woah. Did I actually just think that?

So anyway, Mercury is moving forward, practically hidden beneath a rain of bullets.

I drag Marlin and Zee after Mercury. So while the two opposing parties were shooting each other, we're making an effective getaway

When Mercury's in reach of an old wooden door, he jumps out, kicks it open and rolled in like a Thirteen soldier. Where he stood is a small hole in the door. Hm. Bullet.

Soon, all of us are inside. It won't be long until the winning side- be it Thirteen or Flying Colors- smash their way inside like savages and kill us.

"Stairs!" Marlin calls out. He races upstairs. Honestly, I have never seen the little boy run so fast. Not to Flyer, not to the prospect of a new prank.

"We've gotta split up," Mercury said, almost tumbling over his own words. "I'll go with Marlin upstairs. You two hide in the kitchen." He points to the darkest room. "Got it?" He looks in both of our faces, as though trying to memorize our faces. His eyes linger on Zee's longer and he opens his mouth to say something, but abandoning it and instead rushing upstairs, yelling behind his back, "Be careful."

I know this is a nicer way of saying, "Don't die."

And well, just to get this out, he's just a kid like us. He shouldn't need to care if we die or not. If he was a normal boy, he'd have abandoned us back in the forest.

Scratch that. He should've abandoned us back in the vents.

But of course he's gone and become a big hero. Bring him a prize! Put it in his gravestone!

Heh. See what I just implied there?

As you might've noticed, I'm a bit of a pessimist. I have yet to decide if its bad or not. It's gotten me out of some detentions.

I'm rambling now. We're going to play hide and seek.

The kitchen's dirty, so the first order of business should be to barricade the door.

The keyword here is _should_. If we did, they'd know we were here. We cross out that option. We need to stay hidden.

The first thing that comes to my mind is the fridge or any of the shelves. We quickly eliminate that too because there were rotten things in the fridge and we wouldn't fit it or the shelves if we tried.

The table does not provide any cover at all. There are no doors or windows.

I swear softly to the ceiling when I notice a string coming out from the tiles above us. More out of desperation than of curiosity, I pull on it.

And then a set of stairs fell out.

It almost crushes Zee but we start climbing it. The room above was a dark space with lots of dusted things. There was a broken umbrella in one corner an a suspicious-looking suitcase.

Pulling the stairs back up, we find hiding places. One can't be too careful. I choose a big green trunk hiding behind a pile of old toys and squeeze myself in. Before I sink into the darkness, I see Zee squeeze into a coffin-like container.

I lie there in the dark for a while, inhaling the dust and trying hard to slow my heart beat, in case they can hear it. Kind of silly, I know.

A few minutes drag on. Finally, I can't stand the darkness and open the heavy lid a crack. My other hand brushes on a small stick-like item with numbers in it. I slide it over the under the lid so I can use it as a prop. A bar of light streams into my little hiding place.

Now all we have to do is wait.

Wait.

Hum-do-dee.

There isn't enough light to read my book.

Yawn. It's gotta be at least an hour now.

I pull my bag out and search its contents blindly.

I put it back and use it as a pillow.

I fall asleep.

Crazy, since we're playing a deadly game of hide and seek.

The next time I wake up, it's to the sound of someone knocking on my crate. I automatically grab my knife. I erupt from the crate brandishing my knife.

Marlin's there with a trashcan lid. My knife bounces off it.

"Hi Rooba."

"Hey."

I crawl over the lid and almost fall to my knees. My legs are dead. I stretch them for a while.

"Where's Zee?" he asks.

"In the coffin."

I awkwardly walk to the white coffin when Marlin hands me his trashcan lid. "You might want to use this. In case she thinks you're the enemy."

Haha. I use it and hit the coffin with the hilt of my knife. Then I brace myself. It occurs to me fleetingly that I must look like a parody of a warrior, with my trashcan lid shield and half of a sword.

As expected, Zee jumps on me. She buries two of her knives on my shield. I drop it. "Hiya!" I say cheerfully.

"I smell like dead people." She crouches back to the coffin and pulls out a bone. "That's nasty." She flings it away to the other side of the room. "Where's Mercury?"

"Checking outside."

We decend the stairs and check the wreckage in the kitchen. The fridge has been emptied and the contents strewn on the floor. The doors of the shelves were almost ripped of its hinges. The table is overturned.

"How did you find us?" I ask Marlin.

Marin let out a laugh. "It's a long story. Trust me, it wasn't easy."

I giggled. "You know what, Marlin? Running, fighting, hiding, almost dying... it's getting quite old, don't you think?"

"Explain that to Mercury. He's a disaster magnet."

Once we were outside, the small alley looks like its been used as a bunker. A failed bunker, that is.

Surprisingly, the crossfire had generated only five dead bodies. Two on Horus's side and three on Thirteen. But it still looks like it was a close battle. So close, I can't tell who won and searched our little hideout.

Mercury is hunched on the roof, studying a fallen face on Horus's side. I walk up to the Thirteen bodies, hoping to see a certain handsome blonde-haired jerk.

He wasn't there.

I can dream, can I? I can dream horrid nasty dreams.

So I walk up to the nearest body and...

You guessed it. I raid it.

Actually, the skeleton was way more loaded with supplies. The soldiers didn't even have a bag. His jacket was torn and dirty.

So I grab his gun. I take out his magazine and check the bullets. Empty.

Which means his gun is useless.

But it reminds me of something.

I check the bullet in my arm. The blood had stopped, but I can see a small black metal. The first thing that comes to my head is, _Amputation_!

But no. That will hurt. And it'll be very messy.

Marlin find cuffs (useless), an empty gun magazine (very useless) and a pair of pliers (useful for amputations).

Zee finds nothing but gun holster. She fits it over her belt and slips one of her knives in them. "Cool! I'm like a cowboy!"

I grinned and called over to Mercury who is still hunched over a body. "Hey! Did you find anything?"

No answer.

"Heeey! Earth to Mercury"

Still nothing.

I make a face at Marlin. "Climb the up to him, will you dearie? And kick his little Evacuator butt for me?"

Marlin doesn't comply so I make my way up the one-story building. Climbing the boxes and trashcans ungraciously, I hurl myself up the roof. Walking over Mercury, I look over his shoulder.

"Hello? Did you..." I trail off and nearly bite my tongue as I jump up in shock.

The body Mercury was looking at is Horus.

And his eyes are open.

And blinking.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**So there you have it. The pointless, filler chapter.**

**Review to give me concrit or flames!**


	18. The Cannibal

**Author's Note:**

**Hope you still remember this story exists! Still bad, but way better than last time. I hope. Ending is bad. But I like the content in this one. :P Hope you review!**

**I'm thinking of switching to third person's view after this chapter lemme hear what you think.**

* * *

So it turns out our friend-turned-enemy-turned-dead is actually alive.

Talk about a major heart attack.

I swear and almost fall off the roof. I'm not sure if I should be happy or not. If I should break down in relief or shoot Horus dead.

I'm hyperventilating. "Mercury? We should probably take him down from the roof."

Mercury nods tightly and grabs Horus by his bony legs and I grab his tough shoulder armor. He's freakishly light. It's freakish, I tell you. I could see that he's grown a bit. He's slightly taller and a bit more muscular. That's freaky.

For a minute, I'm afraid he'll wake up and kill me, but his just stays open and stares blankly at the sky. He doesn't even blink. His eyes are a curious yellow shade. It's unnatural and cat-like.

I shiver.

I had always preferred dogs.

Getting down was tricky. We had to carefully haul Horus down several precariously stacked crates. I almost drop him but we made it safely down. I mean, would it kill the builders to build elevators?

Huffing and puffing, I sit to the side while Marlin and Zee inspect Horus.

By inspecting, I meant prodding and poking Horus. Not exactly rocket science.

Once I get back up on my feet we haul Horus into the house that we hid in. He stays on a couch. I can see that Mercury's also having trouble figuring out what to do with him.

Marlin snaps the cuffs he had found on a Thirteen soldier on Horus's wrists.

"Well, now what?" Marlin asks.

Someone's stomach grumbled.

"Now we eat," Zee says.

We all open our bags. There's nothing in there but some mashed up berries crushed by the other survival items.

I sigh. "I guess we're going hunting."

"Nah." Zee's eyes lights up mischievously. "You are going to look after our prisoner."

My eyes bulge out. "Come on! I just spent who-knows-how-much time in that little box."

Zee shrugs. "I spent it in a coffin."

"I spent it in a pot crawling with cockroaches," Marlin says.

"I spent it under the bed. I think I ate a dust bunny." Mercury.

I cringe. "Fine. But I get all the firearms." Yay for compromising!

Everybody handed me their guns. Except for Marlin. We didn't give him any. We figured he'd shoot himself in the foot.

So he just looks on, rather sulkily, as the exchanges were made. The cold metal feels good in my hand. "Come back before midnight." I just gave them an hour thirty minutes. Two hours at most. "Whistle 'Little Franky had a Blankie' so I'll know it's you when you get back here."

Mercury and Zee looks confused. Only Marlin understands.

"But Rooba, I can't whistle."

I roll my eyes. "Hum, then."

Everyone draws their weapons out and files out in a quiet line out of the small room. Except me of course. I have to babysit the ultra-light monster.

Funny how I thought of him as a friend. Now, I don't know what he is.

A pain stabs my arm and I remember the bullet.

Ah.

I head to the kitchen, nursing the still-bleeding arm and turn on the sink. A dark gooey liquid spills out onto the rusted sink. Nice.

Then, I hear a small little tinkle that I identify as running water. It comes from under the sink. I wrench open the door and see precious water dripping onto the wooden floor from one of the pipes.

I use one of my knives to cut the hole bigger. When the metal finally curls open, a gentle slosh of clean water comes out and I stick my arm in. The pain stings for a while but when the blood clears, I can see my arm already swollen around the bullet. I clean my knife and prepare to gouge it out of my arm.

I have the tip of it touching the side of the bullet.

Okay. On the count three. One, two, two, two, two, two, two, three.

Blood wells out again and I bite my lip hard. A few more cuts and the bullet is wiggling.

That's sick.

I can feel tears well up in my eyes. It's just like the time when I was chasing Marlin and this idiotic child ran in front of me and I ran over it and I feel on my arm and broke it.

I don't think I can handle any more knife-fiddling. Then I remember. The pliers! I automatically search my pocket but I know they're back on the table next to that couch. I scowl at my mangled arm.

Sometime prods my shoulder. "Ugh, looking for this?"

I whirl around, my healthy arm slapping against someone's cheek.

"OW!" It's Horus. Awake and breathing. "Stop that."

On the floor, I see the pliers, and next to it, I see Horus standing, a bit stooped to see on what I'm working on. He must've kicked it over here.

I quickly check his arms. Thankfully, they're still locked together.

"Um, thanks." I take the pliers from the floor and hover it above my wound, figuring out the best way to take the bullet out.

I can feel Horus stare burn into my back. It makes me feel self-conscious and guilty. What am I supposed to do with a prisoner that's awake? I almost snap at him to get out but that wouldn't sound nice. So I let him stay.

Finally, I pick up the courage to latch the pliers onto the bullet. There's a tremor of brief pain, but I am able to pull it back out. I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding and look around for a bandage.

I thought about ripping a bit of fabric from my clothes but they are too ripped as it is. I lost my socks on one rainy day and I don't really want to resort to sewing my wound up. With my knife.

I hear a ripping sound behind me and turn to see Horus with a bit of curtain. I reach for it but he grabs my wounded arm gently and wraps the curtain around it. It was awkward for him, with his wrists attached and only fingers free, but he managed it well. He even did this weird knot thing so it's connected to my shirt so it won't fall. Excellent.

"Thanks," I say.

He just shrugs and walks back to the couch where he was formerly sitting on.

It's nice having a quiet prisoner. I also walk to the living room and seat myself on the opposite side of the room. I take out my gun and place it on my lap, fingers on the trigger. Won't do any harm showing some power.

It's an awkward silence, just begging to be broken.

Fortunately, Horus breaks it first. "Long time no see."

I nod slowly."Yeah. How are you these days?"

"Fine."

"Oh. Good to know."

We lapse back into silence.

Horus takes in the messy room and I take this time to study him. Eyes are still cat-like. He looks like he lost a lot of weight, his eye sockets sunken and his cheeks showing dark shadows. His fingers had become spidery and long and his mouth had become a thin grey line. He yawned once, showing white sharp canine teeth.

"What happened to you?" My voice broke as I said it. The sound was pathetic, but if Horus heard it, he didn't say.

He just gave another little shrug. "Dunno. Woke up one morning and saw you guys gone. I was in a cage. And they gave me stuff. Lots of green liquid. It was delicious, but it made your head go fuzzy."

I blinked. "I-I think they gave you Tracker Jacker venom."

"I don't know what to think anymore. Sometimes, I see Mercury's shadow, but he was nowhere to be seen. I see Marlin falling off a cliff, chasing a cloud. Or Zee. I see her fighting a giant, who gobbles her up. Or you. In the Hunger Games. I thought you guys were dead. Visions varied."

"You know, I don't think any of us stands a risk of being eligible for the Hunger Games," I joke.

Horus shook his head. "It didn't hurt at all, though I went to sleep a lot. Sometimes I suddenly woke up in a surgery room. Then things became a bit redder. Then I was recruited. Then I just needed to be ordered. Then I just needed to kill you."

I laugh. "Didn't succeed didn't you?"

"Well, maybe I didn't. Doesn't mean I can now."

I stop laughing but look into Horus's golden eyes. "I have a gun here. If you tried I'd shoot you."

He shook his head and stood up. I stood up too, pointing my gun at him.

"Your gun is empty." He opened a fist and bullets fell out onto the floor, clanging.

I start breathing heavily. My heart pounded even faster when he launched himself in the air. I drop my gun and scurry out of the way.

Horus lands with a bang and regains footing immediately. By then, I'm out of the room.

Window? Blocked.

Door? Behind Horus.

Knock out a wall? Not an option.

Fight? Not a good idea.

Stairs? Only thing left.

I take the stairs two at a time. Horus is on my heels. He grabs my ankle and I fall down, sticking my wrist up to catch my fall. We wrestle on the stairs for a minute, in which I unsheathe my knife and try to get it on him. He grabs my wrist and twists. I drop the knife. I kick him hard and he lets go. I run back down the stair and burst out of the door.

I run out the alley and fling myself inside a door and lock myself in. No light, but a sliver of hope.

I hear Horus scream outside. It reminds me of Titus, the cannibal in one of the Hunger Games.

I'm being stalked by a psychopath and I let him jump me.

Mercury is so not going to let me live this down.


End file.
